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"The SpBB^TH 



OF THE 




IBIiE. 



/ 



BY S. H. NESBIT. D. D. 



Printed. 




PITTSBURGH : 
MYERS, SHINKLE& CO., PRINTERS, STATIONERS, BINDERS, 523 WOOD STREET. 

I89O. 



Dedication 



The battle on Sabbatism began yesterday ; goes on to-day ; will 
continue to-morrow. Over the vast theater of history where the 
conflict has raged — where the strife was hot — where the forces 
were in hand to hand encounter — I have wandered as a spec- 
tator ; and, in my own day, participated some little as an actor. 
The survey has dissipated some former personal hesitancies as 
to exact and abundant proofs of the ancient divine Sabbath 
and of the change of day. Three things have specially risen 
before me as great historic verities : Sabbatism, giving birth to 
the week, stands as the most notable miracle of ancient history ; 
its divine origin is one of the widest facts lying at the very 
sources of history ; and its change from Seventh to First clay, 
by the Lord of the Sabbath himself, is a clear New Testament 
teaching and institution. It may be that the thoughts, so help- 
ful to me along these lines, will be helpful also to others. In 
such faith and hope I send forth this volume. I dedicate it to 
all who are seeking Sabbath light, and who, in their place and 
day, are laboring to promote Sabbath sanctity. I invoke upon 
the work the blessing of the Divine Sabbath-Maker. 



Table of Contents 



The Sabbath of Creation. 5 

The Sabbath of the Ancient World 16 

The Sabbath of the Decalogue 36 

Sabbatism of Gentile Nations 50 

The Sabbath of Judaism, (Old Testament Period) 60 

The Sabbath of Judaism, (The Dispersion) 68 

Jesus and the Sabbath 88 

The Bisen Jesus and the Sabbath 96 

The Ascended Jesus and the Sabbath. 115 

Sabbath of the Apostles ' 126 

Sabbatism and the Apostolical Fathers 144 

Sabbatism and the Church Fathers, (Second Century).. 153 

The Sabbath in History 1C8 

The Sabbath a Natural Law 178 

Sunday and the State 188 

Appendix 203 



THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 



Hail to the day, which He, who made the heavens, 
Earth and their armies, sanctified and "blest, 
Perpetual memory of the Maker's rest." 

Bishop Manx, 



The divine Worker, who planned and built the heavens 
and the earth, and impressed upon them hues of beauty 
and laws of order, was the first Sabbatarian. So the text 
of Creation, as given by Moses, pronounces : 

" And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made; 
and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had 
made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that 
in it he had rested from all his woik which God created and made." 
Gen. 2 : 2-3. 

This is a graphic view, a pictorial illustration, of God 
when his Creation- work was ended ; when the heavens and 
the earth stood complete; and when man appeared as the 
most finished specimen of creative skill and power. I 
study to know and to make known the divine portrait 
which the words paint. 

God as a Sabbath Keeper, 

"He rested" The Divine Worker rested. He followed 
at the very outset, a two-fold line of action ; was a Worker; 
then a Sabbatarian. The Work and the Sabbatism are 
alike his actings. The Mosaic narrative is distinct and 
emphatic ; he rested when work was done ; he Sabbatized 
when creation stood complete. Whatever this may mean, 



6 THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 

yonder it stands as a most remarkable fact in this Bible 
portrait of God. 1 

God, like man, may need rest, may need Sabbatism. 
Creation-work did not indeed overtax and exhaust his en- 
ergies. It was easy for him to create ; to roll worlds from 
his omnipotent fingers; to people them with forms of life 
and beauty. It required but his fiat. " He spake, and it 
was done, he commanded, and it stood fast." a And he cer- 
tainly did not need rest, in the sense of utter cessation from 
activity — in the sense of idling — in the sense of dolessness. 
He is a pure spirit, and activity is as essentially an attri- 
bute of spirit, as inertia is of matter. He is lifted far 
above all possible sense of fatigue and weariness. " For 
the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, fainteth 
not neither is weary." b 

God's Sabbatism then is not a cessation from activity, 
but a change of activity ; not a cessation from work, but 
a change of work. His rest is not inaction. He suspended 
activity in but one direction. He quit creating. He quit 
creating as to our earth. The Mosaic record relates to our 
earth alone ; or, at farthest, to our solar system ; certainly 
not to the universe. God is still enriching the universe 
with new creations; launching starry worlds and their 

a Ps. 33 : 9. t> Isa. 40 : 28. 

1 " From work 

Now resting, blessed and hallowed the seventh day, 
As resting on that day from all his work."— Milton. 

" Moses says that in just six days, the world and all that is therein 
was made ; and that the seventh day was a rest and a release from 
the labor of such operations ; whence it is that we celebrate a rest from 
our labors on that day, and call it the Sabbath, which word denotes 
rest in the Hebrew tongue." — Josephus. Aniiq., 1 : 1 : 1. 

" After the whole world had been completed according to the perfect 
nature of the number six, the Father hallowed the day following, the 
seventh, praising it and calling it holy. For that day is the festival, 
not of one city, nor of one country, but of all the earth ; a day which 
it is alone right to call the festival for all people, and the birth-day of 
the world." — Philo Jud^eus. Creation of the World, ch. 30. 



GOD AS A SABBATH KEEPER. 7 

planetary retinues into the fields of infinite space ; and 
peopling them with new and various forms of life. But, 
as to our earth, his creation-work ended when man ap- 
peared. He did not cease from upholding and superin- 
tending terrestrial affairs — from supplying life to pulsing 
things — but he ceased from creative acts — he paused from 
world making. 1 

He quit creating matter ; for not since has a particle of 
matter been added to, or taken from, our world. He quit 
creating vegetable life ; for the grasses, shrubs, plants, trees, 
already made, and made reproductive in kind, were suffi- 
cient to fill and beautify the earth in its ever-revolving 
seasons; and new vegetable creations were unnecessary. 
He quit creating animal life; for the beasts, birds, fishes, 
reptiles, and animalculse, already planted in being with 
power to propagate themselves, were sufficient to filJ and 
throng earth's hills, valleys, rivers, and oceans through 
time's appointed cycles ; and new animal creations were 

1 " The rest however was not an entire cessation from activity. He 
had done creating, but he continued to sustain and bless his creatures." 
—Smith's Old Test. Hist., 21. 

" Cessation from previous occupation is all that is implied in the 
figure, and is quite compatible with continuous activity in other di- 
rections.'' — Pulpit Com. Gen. 2 : 3. 

" God rested from the work that he had made, not from all work. 
The word Sabbath means resting from the work immediately preced- 
ing, because now complete. We have a very incomplete idea of God's 
Sabbath, unless we realize that he therein entered upon a new and 
higher kind of work. And this constitutes the clearest and sublimest 
illustration of what the Sabbath is." — Bishop Warren. Sabbath Essays. 

" Since the beginning of this day no new creation has taken place* 
God rests as the Creator of the visible universe. The forces of nature- 
are in that admirable equilibrium, which we now behold, and which 
is necessary to our existence. No more mountains or continents are 
formed ; no new species of plants or animals are created. Nature goes- 
on steadily in its wonted path. All movement, all progress, has passed 
into the realm of mankind, which is now accomplishing its task." — 
Guyot, on Creation, as quoted in Butler's Bible Work on Gen. 
2: 1-6.) 



8 THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 

unnecessary. He quit creating intelligent life; for man; 
made in his own image, and made to reappear along the 
line of countless generations, was able to subdue and rule 
the earth and its living forms; and other intelligent crea- 
tions were unnecessary. The earth was complete and fully 
peopled. Other living forms were not needed. The work 
of creation ended. God rested. " He rested and was re- 
freshed." a Divine Work issued in Divine Sabbatism. 

"He rested on the seventh day." An outline view of 
God in creation-work and Sabbatizing, gives a picture of 
six work days and of one rest day ; or of six work periods 
and of one rest period. This is the Divine Model for work 
and rest. Six days or periods, were employed in creating, 
beautifying, vitalizing ; then followed a rest day or period 

The days of creation were, presumably, not days of 
twenty-four hours each, but great geologic periods. That 
would make God's Sabbath, not a twenty-four hour day, 
but a geologic Eon or age. This statement could hardly 
have a second side, but that the word " day " in the fourth 
commandment, is used equally of God and of man. And 
it is argued that if it means a period of twenty-four hours 
for man, it must also mean a like period for God. But 
this argument has in it the fallacy of attempting to mea- 
sure God by man — God's day by man's day. God's day 
may be longer than man's day ; precisely as God's wisdom, 
though expressed by the same word, is higher and broader 
than man's wisdom ; or as God's power, though expressed 
by the same word, is mightier and vaster than man's 
power. We blunder when we attempt to measure God by 
man ; God's day by man's day ; God's creation day by 
man's twenty -four hour day. U A thousand years in thy 
sight are but as yesterday when it is past." b fi One day is 
with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day." c God's time periods are evidently different 

a Ex. 31 : 17. b Ps. 90:4, °IL Pet. 3: 8. 



GOD AS A SABBATH KEEPER. 9 

from man's. The work done in each creation day bespeaks 
more than a twenty-four hour day—bespeaks a great geo- 
logic Eon. So too must be God's rest day — his Sabbath. 
It is a vast period. It began when world-making stood 
complete, and will only end with time. It embraces the 
whole human period. It is already six thousand years 
old ; and the divine Sabbatarian has not yet resumed crea- 
tion work upon our earth. He still rests. His seventh 
day bus not yet reached its evening. His Sabbath goes on. 
Time's Great clock is still ticking off its revolving 
hours. 1 

But God's creation days and Sabbath are held by some 
to be literal twenty-four hour days. This theory makes 
him work six literal days in every weekly cycle, and rest 
the seventh. Man's Sabbath, in that case, cannot be an 
exact copy of God's, as to its place in the weekly cycle. 
For man was made on God's sixth creation day. God's 
seventh day — his Sabbath — would be man's second day of 
life and history. Now if man's Sabbath is on the same 
twenty-four hour day as God's, then it is on the second not 

lu The morning of the seventh clay is not followed by any evening. 
The day is still open. When the evening shall come the last hour of 
humanity will strike." — Guyot, as quoted in Butler's Bible Work on 
Gen. 2 : 1-6. 

" He has put forth no creative energy since he brought man into be- 
ing ; but at the end of the world, in the changes that shall produce a 
new heaven and a new earth, God will resume that creation activity, 
which is now in suspense. Till then he rests." — Dr. J. P. Thompson, 
Ditto. 

"When the last man has been born, and has arrived at the crisis of 
his destiny, then may we expect a new creation, another putting forth 
of the divine energy, to prepare the skies above and the earth beneath 
for a new stage of man's history, in which he will appear as a race no 
longer in process of development, but completed in number, confirmed 
in moral character, transformed in physical constitution, and so 
adapted to a new scene of existence." — Dr. J. G. Murphy, Ditto. 

" The six periods of creative and formation work were followed, ac- 
cording to the narrative, by a period of rest, which, it is implied, still 
continues." — Alden's Man. Cyc., Art. Cosmogony. 



10 THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 

the seventh day in the weekly cycle of historic time. Or, 
if man's Sabbath is on the seventh day of his own weekly 
period, then it does not agree, as to the day of the week, 
with God's. The two Sabbaths — God's and man's — do 
not synchronize. They run parallel but do not unite in 
history. I avow my belief — it cannot in any case amount 
to knowledge — that the day originally given to man for 
Sabbatism was the seventh in the human weekly period — 
the seventh in historic time. 

What God does, and does, as an example for man, must 
be something in the very nature of God and of man. 
The divine life, as a revealed basis of human duty, is a 
supreme law. There is, there can be, no higher law. 
God's example is permanently authoritative. It reports 
something in the very constitution of God — of man — of 
the universe. It expresses a natural, necessary, universal 
law. " Be ye holy, for I am holy;" "Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect; " are en- 
actments of the highest and changeless law. It makes 
the good in God the basis of required good in man. This 
is the revealed law for world Sabbatism. Sabbatism in 
God is the basis of the Sabbatic law for man. 

What God appoints , as to the time of Sabbath-keeping, 
is also a revealed basis of human obligation, but has the 
character of mutability. Appointment, like example, is 
authoritative. But example has permanence; appoint- 
ment may change. Essences are eternal ; forms mutable. 
The appointment of any particular twenty-four hour day, 
in the human weekly period, belongs to mere forms, and 
is changeable at the will of the Law-Maker. 

Now on the theory that makes God's creation and rest 
days great geologic Eons, no known unit of time, as a day, 
a month, a year, is in the Divine Model. All that is fairly 
in it is : the septenary period ; with work in its first six- 
sevenths ; and rest in its last seventh. The unit of time 



GOD AS A SABBATH KEEPER. 11 

for mau must be a divine selection and appointment. If 
a day be chosen as the unit, then the particular day is not 
of the very substance of Sabbatism — is not in the Divine 
Model — is of the nature of mere forms— is alterable at the 
will of the Sabbath Maker. 

On the theory that God's creation and rest days are 
literal twenty-four hour days, the divine example is an 
exact Model for human Sabbatism as to the time period. 
But, as seen, it leaves the particular day for Sabbath, in 
man's weekly period, open to doubt — clouded with uncer- 
tainty. The day must still be a divine selection and ap- 
pointment ; a changing form, if God will ; a shrining 
husk that, at His fiat, may disappear in a successor. 

On both theories, the Divine Model puts a seventh-of- 
days for holy time into the World's Constitution. But 
the particular day is an alterable By-Law. Its change 
would be only a change as to forms. 

He " blessed the seventh day." The creations of the 
six work clays were pronounced " good " and when mau 
appeared " very good ;" but the seventh day, God's rest 
day, was enriched with the divine blessing. 1 Sabbatism is 
thus crowned and sceptered with celestial benedictions. 
God's blessing distinguishes its day among days; differen- 
tiates it from secular or work days ; makes it a day select 
and privileged. It bestows a real good, invests the day 
with divine favor, and imparts a happifying endowment. 
What God blesses is blest indeed. He has put his bles- 
sing upon the Sabbath ; has spoken well of the day ; has 
lifted it above its fellows. The day of the Sabbath, be- 
cause of the divine blessing, is given a celestial elevation, 
where it crowns and overlooks the whole vale of time; its 

1 Inanimate things are blessed of God. " He blesseth the habita- 
tion of the just," Prov. 3 : 33. *' Re shall bless thy bread and thy 
water," Ex. 23:25. "Thou blessest the springing thereof/' Ps. 
65 : 10. 



12 THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 

summit bathed in transfiguring light and glory ; its slopes 
peopled and picturesque with all the Beatitudes and 
Graces. 

He "sanctified" the seventh day. The six creation days 
were freighted with work — with formative words and 
deeds. The seventh was made sacred. It was appointed 
to be the holy of holies in the Temple of days. God sep- 
arated it from common and set it apart to holy uses. He 
hallowed it in himself. He ceased from creation work. 
He rested — is resting. And he fills his Sabbath cycle, not 
with idling, but with well-doing ; not with inactivity, but 
with works of necessity and mercy. He fills it with works 
of necessity ; upholding and governing all terrestrial things; 
keeping the currents of life, vegetable, animal, and intelli- 
gent, moving in ceaseless appearings and disappearings. 
He fills it with works of mercy; loving and redeeming 
sinful man ; and forever sending to him the all-helping 
Holy Spirit. Throughout all his Sabbath cycle, on our 
Sabbaths as on our secular days, he is the God of Provi- 
dence. "My Father worketh hitherto," says Jesus; and 
it is of the all-pitying and all-loving Father, in his divine 
Sabbath cycle, that he thus speaks. The Model Sabbata* 
rian makes works of necessity and mercy essential belong- 
ings of holy time. His Sabbath sanctity is as old as 
creation and as fresh and new as the last smile on the 
dimpled cheek of the little babe. 

This pen sketch of God as a Sabbatarian is now com- 
plete. Divine Sabbatism, as traced in the Mosaic record, 
has four, and but four, essential elements : rest ; a holy 
rest ; a blessed rest ; and a septenary rest, in the last 
seventh of the period. This is Sabbatism — its very sub- 
stance — its Alpha and Omega. It is a photograph of 
God as a Sabbath keeper. The day to be kept in man's 
weekly period is a subject of divine appointment. 



some suggestions remain. 13 

Some Suggestions Remain. 

Divine Sabbatism lies imbedded in the Mosaic creation- 
narrative; a narrative entitled to be considered old even 
among the most ancient historic records; coming down to 
us indeed from the very sources of history. The docu- 
ment is as old as Moses, who lived and wrote ten centuries 
before Herodotus, " the father of history ; " six centuries 
before Hesiod, who sang of " Works and Days" when 
the world was yet young; and five centuries before 
Homer, whose "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were first chanted 
by the blind old minstrel among very primitive peoples. 
It is older than Moses; for the Genesis Sabbath-record was 
gathered by him, under divine supervision, from a still older 
document. That still older document did not come from 
Egypt; for Egypt had then no seventh-day Sabbatism. The 
prehistoric elements out of which the Genesis Sabbath arose 
were not Egyptian, but Chaldaic. The Sabbath came from 
Chaldea, the early home of Abraham, the now known cra- 
dle of the seventh-day Sabbath. Abraham grew up among 
Chaldaic Sabbath records — inscribed on baked clay tablets 
— transcripts themselves from still older Accadian Sabbath 
records — and he undoubtedly preserved and transmitted 
them to his posterity. They thus came to Moses. They 
came from the banks of the Euphrates rather than from 
the Nile. Their aspect is Assyrian, not Egyptian — Asiatic, 
not African. Our ideas as to the beginnings of the Bible 
need revision. The world has never been without inspired 
documents — an inspired Bible. Tts beginning records 
were pre-Mosaic and pre- Abrahamic. Moses, under spe- 
cial divine direction, gathered and reissued them in the 
book now known as Genesis. Thus the Mosaic Sabbath 
record is traceable back to the very remotest times. There 
is nothing that is known to be older. The oldest of all 



14 THE SABBATH OF CREATION. 

known writings are the Mosaic Genesis records and the 
inscriptions of Accad. 1 

In this most ancient document there appears the weekly 
cycle with the last day of the cycle as a day of rest. 
This is simply wonderful. A finished picture of the 
weekly period and seventh day Sabbatism lies yonder in a 
divine frame at the very sources of history. God, not 

li( The sexagesimal division of the circle, the signs of the Zodiac, a 
week of seven days, named as we now name them, and the seventh as 
a day of rest, are all Accadian." — Lib. Univ. Knowledge. Art. Chro- 
nology. 

" It was from the Semites of Babylonia — perhaps the Chaldeans of 
Ur — that both the name (Sabbath) and the observance passed to the 
Hebrew branch of the race, the tribe of Abraham." — Ragozin. The 
Story of Nations. — Chaldea, 256. 

" It (the 7 day week) shall be considered rather as an ancient Baby- 
lonian institution which the Hebrews brought with them from their 
stay in South Babylonia, at Ur Kasdim." — Schroder. The Cuneiform 
Ins. and the Old Test., 18. 

" He (Abraham) communicated to them arithmetic, and delivered 
to them the science of astronomy ; for before Abraham came into 
Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning ; for that 
science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the 
Greeks also.— Joseph us. Antiq., 1 : 8 : 2. 

" In Europe the system of weeks and week days is comparatively of 
modern origin. It was not a Greek, nor a Boman, nor a Hindoo, but 
a Jewish or Babylonian invention." — Max Muller. Chips from a 
German Workshop, 5 : 116. 

" The week . . . The Egyptians were without it . . . The 
Hebrew week therefore cannot have been adopted from Egypt ; proba- 
bly both it and the Sabbath were used and observed by the patriarchs." 
— McClintock & Strong. Cyclo., Art. Chronol. 

" From recent discoveries of Assyriologists, it seems certain that the 
Assyrians, and through them probably the other Semitic nations, de- 
rived their week of seven days from the Accadians or early Turanian 
inhabitants of Babylonia, who also observe the seventh day as a day 
of rest."— Th* Inter. Cyclo., Art. Week, 



SOME SUGGESTIONS REMAIN. 15 

man, is the builder of the week and its Sabbatism, even 
as he is the builder of the day, the month, the year. 1 

In the Mosaic record, Sabbatism appears as a memorial 
of creation-work. A memorial is a monument that recalls 
and preserves the past ; a picture that we hang up to help 
us keep fresh some notable event. God's Sabbatism is 
monumental — a remembrancer — a memento. It makes 
creation-work memorable forever. Sabbatism is the first 
monument ever built, and God the first monument builder. 
He is a monument builder as well as a world builder and 
a man builder. And the monument built was to be 
worthy of the Builder; was to run parallel with the world 
and man; to antedate and survive pyramids and pillars 
of brass; and to move, changeless like himself, through 
the wastes and vicissitudes of Time and History. 

1(< He who breaks the Sabbath denies creation." — Jewish Teacher. 

11 The Sabbath was instituted from the beginning, and was designed 
to be of universal and perpetual obligation." — Hodge. Sys. Theol, 325. 

" The institution of the Sabbath is thus as old as creation ; and the 
fact of its high antiquity, its being coeval with the human race, dem- 
onstrates the universality and the permanence of its obligation. — Jami- 
son, Faussett & Brown. Com. Gen 2 : 2-3. 

"The first Scriptural notice of the weekly Sabbath, though it is not 
mentioned by name, is in Gen. 2 : 3, at the close of the record of the 
six days' creation. And hence it is frequently argued that the institu- 
tion is as old as mankind, and is consequently of universal concern 
and obligation."— Smith. Diet of the Bible. Art. Sabbath. 

" The seventh part of time is holy for man. God blessed it and 
hallowed it. Such is the deduction from the language of Gen. 2: 3." 
Lange. Com., Gen. 2:3. 



SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



" Sweet is the toil of tranquil holy day, 
Hallowed e'en from the birth of time to rest; 
To purest joys and contemplations blest: 
The cares of this vain world put far away." 

Allen. 



The Sabbath is coeval with man, and, like Song and 
Marriage, is fragrant with thoughts and memories of Eden. 
Its holy light and unbroken quiet rested upon Adam and 
Eve when they came fresh from the creative hand of God. 
Its original institution, on the authority of the divine ex- 
ample, and by express lav/ spoken in Eden but long lost 
to history and the world, antedates sin and the expulsion of 
the primal man and woman from their Edenic home. I 
seek to show this high antiquity for the Sabbath ; that it 
has existed as a divine institution from the beginning ; that 
it was given to man as man ; and that its boundaries are 
therefore Time and Man. Proofs of such a seventh-day 
Sabbath from the very beginning abound in the remains 
of antiquity. 

The Sabbath Ante Sinaitic. 

The Fourth Commandment introduces and names the 
Sabbath, not as a new institution, but as already well- 
known in the world. Its opening word — "Remember" 
is not merely monitory, does not merely enjoin a future 
recollection of the precept, but also recalls something past 
and known. It sets forth the institution as a pre-existent 
one as having come down out of the past, the Sinaitic leg- 
islation merely confirming and investing it anew with 
divine authority. Moses, by this word, distinctly declares 

16 



THE SABBATH ANTE SINAITIC. 17 

that lie is not beginning but only renewing the Sabbath ; 
that his is not an original publication of the institution, 
but only a re-enactment of an older law. Sinai then did 
not witness the first promulgation of the Sabbath law. 
It had a pre Sinaitic life and history. 

The Sabbath was known and observed among the Isra- 
elites before Sinai was reached. Sinai was reached in their 
third month out from Egypt, and was the fifth stage in 
their journeyings from the Red Sea. But in their second 
mouth out from Egypt, and in their third stage, from the 
sea, the camp was pitched in the Wilderness of Sin. 
There began the miracle of manna. The law for its coming 
and its gathering is Sabbatic. God, in sending it, was a 
Sabbatarian. He sent it six consecutive mornings ; a 
double portion on the sixth ; none on the seventh. Man, 
its gatherer, was also required to be a Sabbatarian. He 
was to gather it six consecutive mornings; a double por- 
tion on the sixth; none on the seventh. "Six days shall 
ye gather it/- says Moses, "but on the seventh which is the 
Sabbath, there shall be none." The day of no-manna is 
called " the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord."* 
The Sabbatic name and institution are both here : and sab- 
bath-keeping too. And this is before Sinai was reached ; 
before the giving of the law ; before the Sabbath was made 
part and parcel of the Decalogue. The Sabbath, by auth- 
ority of Holy Scripture, is ante-Sinaitic. 1 

Israel in Egypt knew such associated Sabbatic ideas as 
"seven days," " seventh day," " holy convocation," " feast 
unto the Lord," and "sacrifice unto the Lord" — phrases 
with which the people appeared to be familiar. And 

a Ex. 16 : 1 1-31. 

ia The celebration of the seventh day as a day consecrated to Jeho- 
vah is first mentioned after the Exodus from Egypt, and seems to have 
preceded the Sinaitic legislation, which merely confirmed and in- 
vested it with the highest authority." The Inter. Oyc, Art. Sabbath. 



18 ' SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

Pharoali, addressing Moses and Aai'on respecting the 
Israelites, said, using the Hebrew Sabbatic word: " Ye 
make them rest (Sabbatize) from their burdens." The 
Chaldaic language was at that time the Court language of 
Egypt, and of Western Asia — the language of diplomacy. 
There were in many places libraries and schools where it 
was taught. This explains its use by the Egyptian 
Pharoah — his use of the Hebrew Sabbatic word. 1 

It throws a flood of light upon the scene. It shows the 
Israelites as Sabbatizing; Moses and Aaron restoring 
among them known but neglected Sabbath-keeping; and 
Pharoah denouncing their Sabbatizing as idling. The 
Sabbatic war is already on in history; an oppressed people 
seeking to keep the day ; greed and despotism wresting it 
from them. This interpretation— the very best possible — ■ 
establishes the Sabbath as known and observed by the 
Israelites in Egypt. The name was there. The Sabbath- 
keeping people were there. This broad Sabbatic trace 
antedates the Decalogue and Sinai. 

The Sabbath Ante Mosaic. 

The Septenary number is crowned above all other num- 
bers in the Bible. It is used over three hundred times. 
The oldest Bible writings — the ante-Mosaic — are specially 

1 Prof. A. H. Sayce in a paper on The Tel-el-Amarno Tablets, read 
July 1, 1839, before the Victoria Institute, London, says: "From 
them we learn that in the fifteenth century before our era — a century 
before the Exodus — active literary intercourse was going on through- 
out the civilized world of Western Asia, between Babylon and Egypt 
and the smaller states of Palestine, of Syria, of Mesopotamia, and 
even of Eastern Kappadokia. And this intercourse was carried on by 
means of the Babylonian language. This implies that all over the 
civilized East there were libraries and schools where the Babylonian 
language and literature were taught and learned." 

u That the Babylonian was the language of diplomacy and society 
in the fifteenth century B. C, all over the civilized East, is the great- 
est of archaeological surprises." — Phof. Taylor. Andover Rev., Feb. 
1890, p. 221. 



THE SABBATH ANTE MOSAIC. 19 

full of the word in some of its forms. We are told of the 
" sevenfold " vengeance to be visited on any one slaying 
Cain. We are told how things were taken into the ark in 
classes of " sevens." We are twice told of " the seven 
ewe lambs" given as a token of the covenant between 
Abraham and Abimelech. We are twice told how Ja- 
cob served "seven years" for Rachel, and then "seven 
other years " for flocks and herds. And we are told how 
Pharoah dreamed, and saw "seven well-favored" then 
"seven ill-favored" kine ; "seven rank and full ears" 
then "seven thin ears" of corn ; and that each class 
represented " seven years." These are samples of the 
Bible use of the word in ante-Mosaic times and writings. 
Its use runs clear back through Noah to Cain and Abel. 1 

Reverence for the septenary number also perpetually 
appears in the most ancient records of all earliest peoples. 

1 Special interest belongs to certain numbers — always has — always 
will. They are used as symbols of important ideas. Here are 
samples : 

Three is the mystical number : Man's trinity of natures, body, mind^ 
soul ; God's trinity of substances, Father, Son, Holy Ghost ; and 
Time's trinity of parts, past, present, future, or the Was, the Is, and 
the Will Be. 

Four is the world number : Our globe's four quarters, East, West, 
North, South ; and the year's four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, 
Winter. 

Twelve, the product of three and four, seems a symbol of arrange- 
ments to meet world needs. Ishmael had twelve princes ; Jacob twelve 
sons and tribes; and Christ twelve Apostles. The New Jerusalem 
has twelve gates, and its temple twelve foundations. This number is 
written on the sky, from the earliest times, in the twelve signs of the 
Zodiac ; and it is incorporated in all chronologies in the twelve months 
of the year. 

Seven, the sum of three and four, is the sacred number. It ranges, 
as seen above, widely through the Bible and in all primitive litera- 
ture. Its impress is upon nature as welJ. The rainbow, God's chosen 
emblem of promised good, is painted on the sky in seven colors. 
Seven is the symbol of sufficiency. It is called the number of per- 
fection. The word in Hebrew expresses fullness, completion. A 
sacred character has attached to it from the earliest times. 



20 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

It was among very primitive peoples that the tales began 
of the " Seven Sages/' the " Seven Wise Men/' the " Seven 
Masters/' and the " Seven Wonders of the World." No 
reliable astronomic histories go back so far as to tell us 
when men first began to speak of the " seven planets " 
and the " seven stars " in the Pleiades. The Indian 
cosmogony speaks of the "seven worlds/' the "seven 
continents/' and the "seven seas. Among the ear- 
liest Greeks "seven" Was sacred to Apollo and 
Dionysius. Homer sings of the "seven tripods" and 
the " seven maids " that Agamemnon offered to Achilles 
for the return of Briseis. a " With the desire to purify 
myself," savs one of the ancients, "I bathe in the sea, 

v s */ 7 7 

dipping my head seven times in the waves ; for this num- 
ber, as the divine Pythagoras tells us, is the proper one in 
all matters of religion. " b These samples, outside of the 
Abrahamic famity/show the septenary word in wide use 
as far back as the lights of history and tradition take us. 

Now it is impossible to explain this high antiquity and 
wide currency of the septenary number — an associate Sab- 
batic idea — on any theory that does not trace it back to 
God's seventh day rest, when his creation work was ended. 
The creation " seven/' completing divine work and rest, is 
its only fairly known source and archetype. This accounts 
for its origin and prevalence, and nothing else does. The 
primeval origin of the Sabbath is suggested and confirmed 
by the early and world-wide sacredness of the number. 

The septenary division of time — the week — seven days 
— has an equally venerable antiquity and currency. It 
was, after day and night, the earliest known of all time- 
markers — indeed a primal and universal time-marker. 
Primitive Hebrews and Arabians found it in the world 
and used it. Joseph appointed " seven days of mourning " 

a Iliad 19:1s. 243-6. 

b Cunningham Geike, " Oriental Mode of Covenanting" S. S. Times, 
•Oct. or Nov., 1888. 



THE SABBATH ANTE MOSAIC. 21 

for Jacob. " Fulfill ye her week," said Laban to Jacob, 
enjoining upon him seven years' service for Rachel. Job's 
three friends sat down in silence with him " seven days 
and seven nights." And Noah, in the ark, twice stayed 
" seven days" before sending forth his exploring dove. 
Thus in the Bible, the weekly period, always implying Sab- 
batism, is pre-Mosaic, pre-Abrahamic, coeval with Noah. l 
The week was indeed known and of world-wide use 
among all primitive peoples. It is seen, and in its purest 
form, at their very beginnings. The dwellers in the earli- 
est seats of mankind— -Accadians, Assyrians, Babylonians 
— had the week and the seventh-day Sabbath. Marvelous 
and convincing is the testimony of their sculptures and in- 
scriptions. They are as so many witnesses, risen from the 

1 " The week is perhaps the mo*t ancient and incontestable monu- 
ment of human knowledge." — Laplace (Euvres, torn, vi, liv. i, ch. 3. 

'* The septenary arrangement of days was in use among the orientals 
from the remotest antiquity." Scaliger. Be Emend. Temp. lib. i. 

" The week, whether a period of seven days, or a quarter of the 
month, was of common use in antiquity." — McClintock & Strong, 
Cyclo., Art. Chronol. 

" The week .... has been employed from time immemorial in 
almost all eastern countries." — Cycl. Brit., Art. Calendar. 

"We have reason to believe that the institution of that short period 
of seven days, called a week, was the first step taken by mankind in di- 
viding and measuring their time. We find from time immemorial, the 
use of this period among all nations without any variation in the form 
of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in 
a word, all the nations of the East have in all ages made use of a week, 
consisting of seven days." — President de Goguet, The Origin of 
Laws, (1761,) 1 : 230. 

" From time whereof the memory of man, and history and mythol- 
ogy, run not to the contrary, the division of time into the week of 
seven days has been almost the universal law. It prevailed among 
peoples far removed from each other, and remote from as well as near 
to the Asiatic center whence the nations of men radiated — among 
Persians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Hindoos, the ancient Chinese on the 
farthermost East, and the Scandinavians on the Northwest. In most 
of these instances it is certain that the week revolved on a day of rest." 
Rfv. W. W. Atterbury. Sabbath Essays. 



22 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

dead. Their testimony, going back to the utmost borders 
of Historic Chaos, is final — conclusive — cannot be gainsaid 
— or resisted. 1 

Egypt, like her own Sphinx in the Nile Valley, keeps 
stern watch and guard over her most distant life and cus- 
toms. Her very ancient eras are fabulous. Mists are 
everywhere ; and it is only through occasional rifts that we 
catch glimpses of first things. In the earliest hieroglyphs, 
antedating perhaps the pyramid kings, usually located by 
the critics in Manetho's Fourth Dynasty, appears the rev- 
ered number seven ; the septenary cycle or week, with its 
name given as uk, perhaps the original of our work week; 
and the seventh day as a day of rest. Thus beyond the 
certainly known historic dates, there appear in Egypt 
traces of the weekly period and of Sabbatism. 2 

1 " The sacred Babylonian seven and seven-day week." — George 
Smith. Chaldean A cc. of Creation, 308. 

"The number seven was a sacred number among the Accadians, 
who invented the week of seven days, and kept a seventh day Sab- 
bath." — Geo. Smith. Assyrian Discoveries, 56-7. 

" They (the Chaldeans) appear to have used the month of 30 days, 
and the year of 12 months, from immemorial antiquity, as also the 
week of 7 days, the nomenclature of which from the 7 chief heavenly 
bodies, coincides with the seven stages of the temple- towers, and seems 
on other grounds also to have been invented by them." — P.Smith. 
Anc. Hist, of the East, 401. 

2 u Rest being enjoined by the Egyptian priests on the seventh day." 
— Proctor. The Great Pryamid, 246. 

44 That the Egyptians dedicated the seventh day of the week to Sat- 
urn, is certain. And it is presumable this day was a day of rest in 
Egypt."— The Great Pyramid, 266. 

" Weeks are mentioned in company with months in some of the oldest 
hieroglyphs; and, curiously enough, they are called uk, which may 
be the origin of our Anglo-Saxon word." — Trevor. Anc. Egypt, 168-9. 

"In Egypt, where the number seven was held in great reverence ; 
and it is more probable that it had prevailed there in ancient times, 
than that it had been introduced subsequently to the age of Herodotus." 
— John Kenrick. Anc. Egypt, 1 : 283. 



THE SABBATH ANTE MOSAIC. 23 

Hindoo literary remains are abundant to very distant 
times. We have trustworthy knowledge of their primi- 
tive institutions in the Puranic, the Epic, and the Vedic 
periods. The still older literature has traces of the sacred 
seven — of the weekly period — and of Sabbatism. These 
traces appear only at the most distant sources of history 
and in the mythical period. 1 

Chinese civilization has been peculiar and philosophic, 
and without Sabbatism, from the time of Confucius and 
Lao-tse. But the still older and simpler forms of religion 
reveal wide traces of the seven day period, ending in a 
day of rest and sacrificial worship. 2 

1 Prof. Wilson on " Hindoo Festivals." — " Every seventh day is con- 
sidered sacred." — Jour, of the Royal Asiatic Soc. 

The god Vishnu to Satyavrata : "In seven days all creatures .... 
shall be destroyed by a deluge .... Together with seven holy men . . . 

enter the ark without fear After seven days the floods descended 

and drowned the world." — Sir Wm, Jones. Asiatic Researches, 2 : 
116-17. 

Ancient Hindoo Prayers: "Mother of all creatures, Saptami, who 
art one with the lords of the seven courses and the seven mystic words." 

"Glory to thee, who delighteth in the seven chariots drawn by 

the seven steeds, the illuminators of the seven worlds. Glory to thee 
on the seven lunar days." .... "It is impossible to avoid inferring 
from the general character of the prayers and observance, and the 
sanctity evidently attached to the recurring seventh day, some con- 
nection with the Sabbath, or the seventh of the Hebrew Heptameron." 
H. H. Wilson's Works, 2 : 201. 

" When the great king of glory, on the Sabbath day, (uposatha,) on 
the day of the full moon, had purified himself, and had gone up in the 
upper story of his palace to keep the sacred day." Notes 3. — 
Uposatha, a weekly sacred day : being full-moon day, new moon day, 
and two equidistant intermediate days." — Sacred Books of the East, 12 : 
251, 254. 

" In Buddhism the same word (uposatha) has come to denote a Sab- 
bath, observed on the full moon, on the day when there is no moon, 
and on the two days which are eighth from the full and new moon re- 
spectively." — Cycl. Brit, Art. Sabbath; Childer's Pali. Diet., 535; 
Kern, Buddhismus, 8, Ger. trans. ; Maharagga, 2 : 1 : 1. 

2 " The Emperor offered sacrifices to the Superior Unity, Tog-y, 
every seven days." — Annals of Sec. Masico. Quoted from Proudhon. 



24 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

The historic Greek had the decade, not the hebdomad. 
But earlier Greek writers, as Linus, Homer, Hesiod, and 
Pythagoras, mention and eulogize the seventh day and its 
sacred character. These traces of the week and of an as- 
sociated rest day, belong to the most distant Greece — to the 
golden age of the poets — when religion was simple in its 
forms — and when great sanctity attached to temples and 
festivals. 1 

Thus the week — the seven day period associated with 
Sabbatism — stands out clearly in the most ancient and 
silent deserts of time. It appears as a primitive and 
universal institution ; as an incontestable monument of 
the very earliest civilization ; as at its very best in 
the earliest times. Now this division of time into weeks 
— an arbitrary not a natural arrangement like the day, the 
month, the year— could not have been an invention of prim- 
itive man. It is not a natural division of time, nor yet an 
accident in human affairs. It must have arisen from some 
remarkable event in history — and at its very beginning. It 
is a primitive tradition springing from some divine Genesis 

" All the ancient Emperors on the seventh day, called the Great 
Day, caused the doors of houses to be closed. No business was done 
that day, and the magistrates judged no case." — Chin King. Quoted 
from Proudhon. 

1 "By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell." — Iliad 6 : 421. 
"Seven golden talents to perfection wrought," 
Ulysses in cave of Polyphemus 

" But now arose 
A well-towered city, by seven golden gates enclosed." 

— Hesiod. Shield of Hercules. 
" Early Athens had to send 7 youths and 7 maidens yearly to Crete 
to be devoured by the Minotaur." — Smith. Hist. Greece, 6. 

" It was the gods themselves who communicated the fact that the 
septenary, an intelligent number, existed after the ternary. Orpheus 
taught it as well as the Pythogoreans."— Lenormant. The Beginnings 
of History, 536. 

'• The seventh day is observed among pious persons, 
The seventh day is the festival of the world's nativity; 
The seventh day was kept by our forefathers, 
The seventh day is the most perfect of days." 

—Linus, 10 cent, B. C. Quoted by Eusebius, Evan. Prcep., 3 : 13. 



THE SABBATH ANTE MOSAIC. 25 

narrative. It is impossible, indeed, to explain its high 
antiquity, its wide prevalence, its deep impression upon 
emerging nations, on any theory that does not trace it 
back to God's " seven days " of work and rest. It was 
this that started the weekly period on its travels among 
mankind. This is its only sufficient source and authority. 
It can have no other. 1 

The Book of Job twice speaks of "a day when the sons 
of God came to present themselves before the Lord." 
That must have been an appointed day, a fixed day, an 
understood day, in order to the assembling of the sons of 
God at the same time and place. Their name is odorous 
of saintship; and their assembling to present themselves 
before the Lord is an obvious act of worship — an act of 
social or public worship. Worship and an appointed day 
for worship are suggestive of Sabbatism — are legible 
traces of an ancient Arabian Sabbath. 

Noah, on quitting the ark, built an altar and offered 
burnt offerings ; and the Lord smelled "a sweet savor" — 

111 Seven natural days constituted a week. This division of time 
appears to have been observed by all nations, probably from the 
beginning of the world ; and it originated with God himself." — Cot- 
tage Bible, 1:10. 

11 We find from time immemorial the knowledge of the week of 
seven days among all nations — Egyptians, Arabians, Indians — in a 
word all the nations of the east have in all ages made use of this week 
of seven days for which it is difficult to account without admitting 
that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors of the 
human race." — Kittys Cycl. of Bib. Lit., Art. Sabbath. 

" The measuring of time by day and night is pointed out to the 
common sense of mankind by the diurnal course of the sun. Lunar 
months and solar years are equally obvious to all rational creatures ; 
so that the reason why time is computed by days, months, and years, 
is readily given. But how the division of time into weeks of seven 
days, and this from the beginning, came to obtain universally among 
mankind, no man can account for, without having respect to some im- 
pressions on the minds of men from the constitution and laws of 
nature, with the tradition of a Sabbatical rest from the foundation of 
the world."— Cycl Eel Knowl, 10 : 39. 



26 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

marginal reading, "savor of rest." Sacrificial worship 
and rest — Sabbatic elements — here go together, and are 
traces of an ancient Sabbath. For this is that Noah who 
gathered clean animals into the ark by " sevens" and who 
observed " seven day " periods in sending forth his ex- 
ploring dove. 1 

4 

Worship and sacrifice are as old as man. Cain and 
Abel brought an offering unto the Lord " in process of 
time" — marginal reading, " in the end of days." In the 
end of what days? Man was then but newly created and 
placed upon the earth. Time divisions, the growth of 
study and experience, could not as yet have been formed. 
But in some way he knew creation's story ; its six work 
days ; its seventh day rest. He knew this for it is part 
of his transmitted history. To him then the end of days, 
as connected with offerings unto the Lord, would be the 
end of week days — the end of secular or work days — 
giving way to the altar and the sacrifice — to Sabbath rest 
and worship. This " offering unto the Lord " then is a 
large and plain tr#'ce of "an ante-diluvian Sabbath. 

Thus the ante-Mosaic world had in it all the Sabbatic ele- 
ments: rest; a sacred rest, as the sons of God appearing 
before the Lord; a blessed rest, as Noah's thank-offering on 
quitting the ark; and a septenary rest, as Cain and Abel's 
offering in the end of days. This establishes, by indirec- 
tion, a pre-Mosaic Sabbath, a pre-Abrahamic Sabbath, 
an ante-diluvian Sabbath. The proofs, though but circum- 
stantial, are wholly one-sided. There is nothing on the 
other side, nothing to oppose them — to weaken them — to 
make them doubtful. 



144 Noah, with all his family, and ail the animals, were but seven 
days embarking; which seems to intimate the division of time into 
weeks, and the observance of a Sabbath." — Dr. Wm. Paiton. Cottage 
Bible. Com. on Gen. 7. 



THE ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN SABBATH. 27 

The Assyrian, Babylonian, Accadian Sabbath. 

The Sabbath of the ancient world is in the Cuneiform 
inscriptions, as well as in the Mosaic records. This story 
had perished ; but one of its lost chapters has been recov- 
ered. The pick and shovel have broken the long silence 
of the undreaming dust. Oriental researches are turning 
up before us the fleshless faces of the first men who 
walked the earth after the flood ; are exhuming records 
and monuments of their taste and genius ; are recovering 
their histories, teachings, beliefs. Long buried cities are 
yielding their mighty secrets. At Kouyunjik, the 
ancient Nineveh, the pick and shovel laid bare, in the 
palace of Sennacherib, two " Chambers of Records/' 
Their floors were covered, a foot deep with tablets of 
baked clay, having inscribed upon them histories and 
legends of the earliest times— early literature of Chaldea 
— of Accad. Like records have been found at other 
places, as at Babylon, at Calneh, and at Erech, the oldest 
of all cities. 

The "historic tablets " contain very wonderful Sabbatic 
records. One — "A Religious Calendar of the Assyrians " 
— forbids work every seventh day and enjoins rest and de- 
votion. 1 Another — "A Babylonian Astronomic Record " 

ia In the year 1869 I discovered, among other things, a curious 
religious calendar of the Assyrians, in which every month is divided 
into four weeks, and the seventh days, or Sabbaths, are marked out as 
days in which no work should be undertaken." — Assyrian UiscoveiHes, 
Geo. Smith, 12. 

Assyrian Calendar. Translated by Kev. A. H. Sayce. The rubric 
of the 14th day, the 21st day, and the 28th day is the same as for the 
7th day, here given : 

The seventh day. A feast of Merodach and Zir-Panitu— A festival. 

A Sabbath. The Prince of many nations 

The flesh of birds and cooked fruit eats not. 

The garments of his body he changes not. White robes he puts not on. 

Sacrifices he offers not. The King in his Chariot rides not. 

In royal fashion he legislates not. A place of garrison the 

General (by word ol mouth) appoints not. 
Medicine for his sickness of body he applies not. 
To make a sacred spot it is suitable. 
In the night in the presence of Merodach and Istar 
The king his offering makes. Sacrifices he offers. 
Raising his hand the high place of the god he worships. 

— Records of the Past, vol. 7, pp. 157-170. 



28 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

— divides the month (lunar) into septenary periods, 
and ends each period with a day of rest. The day is, in 
substance, the Sabbath of Moses. It has also the Mosaic 
name; is called Sabatu — u a day of rest for the heart, 1 
This historic Sabbath, exhumed by Assyriologists, reaches 
back to the earliest Assyrians, and beyond them to the 
Accadians, the eldest blood of earth after the flood. Sab- 
batic ideas, institutions, and practices are thus historic 
verities back fairly to Noah. 

The " legendary tablets " are all very old. The " Gen- 
esis Legends" — " the story of beginnings " — are assigned, 
by that eminent Oriental scholar, George Smith, to two 
thousand years before Christ; and as copies then, by As- 
syrian scribes, of still older Accadian documents. This 
makes them five centuries older than Moses, a century 
older than Abraham, and still reaching indefinitely beyond. 

Their " story of beginnings " is in very fair agreement 
with the Mosaic narrative. The Accadian Sabbath is es- 
sentially the same as the Mosaic Sabbath ; and the " Genesis 
Legends " trace the institution to the divine appointment. 

1 Babylonian Astronomical Tablet, compiled for Sargon, 
King of Agane, in the sixteenth century before Christ. " The moon 
a rest — on the 7th day, the 14th day, the 21st day, the 28th day — 
causes." — Trans, of So. of Archce., vol. 3, p. 145. 

" The very word Sabatn, or Sabbath, was used by the Assyrians, and 
a bilingual tablet explains it as a day of rest for the heart." — The 
Chat. Ac. of Crea. Geo. Smith, p. 308. 

" The Sabbath was known to the Babylonians and Assyrians . . . 
Like the Hebrew Sabbath it was observed every seventh day. — Ribbert 
Lectures, 1887. Sayce, 82. 

"Its recurrence every seventh day — its character, 'a day of rest for 
the heart' — its very name 'Sabatu' — are given in a way which leaves 
but little to be desired, when taken in connection with other testi- 
mony, so abundant in our hands from other sources." — The Ptimitive 
Sabbath Restored by Christ. 

" The week of seven days was in use from an early period, indeed, 
the names which we still give to the days can be traced to ancient 
Babylonia ; and the seventh day was one of sulum, or rest." — EncycL 
Brit., Art. Babylonia. 



THE ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN SABBATH. 29 

Thus the Mosaic and the Cuneiform records agree 
as to the origin and import of the Sabbath, and as to its 
high antiquity. 1 

Proofs, in abridged form, of an ancient Sabbath — a 
patriarchal Sabbath— an ante-diluvian Sabbath — are now 
before the reader. The proofs, now dim and shadowy, 
anon plain and luminous, are gathered from the remains 
of the earliest peoples, as far back as the lights of begin- 
ning histories take us. They had the septenary number, 
an associate Sabbatic idea, appearing everywhere in the 
grey mists of antiquity. They had the weekly period, 
also an associate Sabbatic idea, and an incontestable 
monument of history at its very sources. They had wor- 
ship, and an appointed day for worship. They had the 
Sabbath itself ; Hebrews had ; Babylonians and Assyrians 
had ; and Accadians, their remotest known predecessors, 
had. They had its name. They had its very substance. 
They were Sabbath keepers. And the primal human Sab- 
bath was a fair copy of God's creation Sabbath. An 
ancient Sabbath, in presence of Assyrian and Accadian 
records supplementing the Mosaic recoi*ds, ceases to be de- 
batable ground. It is a verity to the uttermost line of 
historic vision — and of legendary vision. Exact history, 

: The fifth tablet is much mutilated. The first part alone remains 
perfect. The following is an extract: 

11 He constructed dwellings for the great gods. 

He fixed up constellations, whose figures were like animals. 

He made the year. Into four quarters he divided it. 

Twelve months he established, with their constellations, three and three, 

And for the days of the year he appointed festivals. 

...... • . • • • 

In the center he placed luminaries. 

The moon he appointed to rule the night, 

And to wander through the night until the dawn of day. 

Every month without tail he made holy assembly days. 

In the beginning of the month, at the rising of the night, 

It shot forth its horns to illuminate the heavens. 

On the seventh day he appointed a holy day, 

And to cease from all ivork he commanded. 

—Records of the Past, vol. 9, p. 117. 



30 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

with legendary supplements, proclaims and verifies the in- 
stitution as existing from the beginning. 

Some Conclusions Follow. 

• Sabbatism, with its weekly period, is traced by some 
thinkers, to lunar changes, because found in association 
with such changes in Babylonia. The theory is incredible 
— bristles with impossibilities. New moon attracts notice; 
full moon also ; but not the quarters ; they are vague and 
inconspicuous. Moon phases might therefore suggest a 
dual but hardly a quaternion division of the lunar month. 
Then the seven-day week is not an aliquot part of the 
lunar month ; is not an exact fourth ; is less than a fourth. 
The moon's phases are not exact seven-day cycles. How 
could they give birth to such cycles? 1 If the week with 
its Sabbatism was born of lunar changes, it would not 
only have been universal in beginning histories, as it was; 

1 The unfitness of the week as an astronomical measure of time." 
— Pkoctor. The Great Pyramid, 240. 

"The ancient Hebrews, who had the week and the Sabbath long be- 
fore they had any acquaintance with the planetary science of the 
Babylonian priests." — CycL Brit, Art. Sabbath. 

"The week. * * * As it forms neither an aliquot part of the 
year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will 
be at a loss, as Delambro remarks, to assign to it an origin having 
much semblance of probability." — CycL Brit., Art. Calendar. 

" That the week should be conditioned by the planets seems barely 
credible. It was not until after the people had got the seven days, that 
they began to call them after the seven planets. The number seven is 
the only bond of connection between them. Doubtless the week is 
older than the names of the days." — Weklhausen. History of Israel, 
113. Edinburg, 1885. 

"As the Sabbath corresponds with no cycle or natural division of 
time, it must have been impossible for any man, or number of men, to 
single out one day and set it apart authoritatively. Man could neither 
have decided rightly the proportion of time to be set apart, nor have 
guarded the sanctity of the day by penalties. If the division of time 
into weeks were wholly unknown, it would be impossible that it should 
be introduced bv man." — Butler's Bible Work, Gen. 2: 1-6. 



SOME CONCLUSIONS FOLLOW. 31 

but it would have remained in all history, as it has not; 
and it would not have disappeared in nundince and decades, 
as it widely did. The association of the week with lunar 
changes was the later and corrupt, not the earlier and purer 
record. Mosaic Sabbatisra has no society whatever with 
lunar. changes. The oracles of the Hebrews always ascribe 
the institution to God. The Accadian " legendary" Sab- 
bath also appears as a divine appointment. The fifth 
" Creation Tablet " says : 

u On the seventh day he appointed a holy day ; 
And to cease from all work he commanded." 1 

Such testimonies are final. History and legendary lore 
alike declare, from the most distant witness box, that the 
week originated from religious, not from astronomical in- 
fluences ; that the Sabbath was born of God, not of the 
moon. It is really wild, unhistorical, unphilosophical to 
trace the institution to lunar changes. The earliest known 
histories and legends name the World-Maker, not the moon, 
as its author. They report the seventh-day used as sacred 
time from the very beginning, and so authenticate its 
divine origin. 

Sabbatism, with its weekly period, is regarded by other 
thinkers as a human contrivance. The assumption is with- 
out reason, even as it is in violent conflict with history and 
legendary lore. The Sabbath, so proverbial among the 
earliest peoples — a primitive and universal institution — 
could not be of man. It is such an institution as the best 
man could not make, if he would; and as the worst man 
would not make, if he could. The weekly period of six 

1 "The last lines of the fifth tablet are intensely interesting, as con- 
taining probably the oldest monumental evidence of the institution of 
the Sabbath, and that, too, almost in the very words of Genesis. It is 
here affirmed, moreover, that the institution of the Sabbath was coeval 
with the creation. We find the same fact mentioned on other cunei- 
form inscriptions." — Prof. J. L. Porter. The Prince. Rev., July, 
1878, p. 10. 



32 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

work days and one rest day — without any exact archetype 
in nature — was not possible to human invention. To de- 
termine originally the due proportion that work should 
have to rest was above his wisdom ; and to fit holy time 
into the framework of society above his power. He has 
not the genius to frame, nor the authority to appoint, a 
natural, universal, and unchangeable institution, such as 
the Sabbath is. The institution is not of man. 1 It is of 
divine order and appointment. It stands in history and 
legend, not as a human discovery, but as a revelation from 
God himself. It is not possible in reason to think other- 
wise of the weekly day of hallowed rest, that is incorpor- 
ated in our very nature, and enters into the World-Maker's 
plan of the universe. 

Sabbatism is not an evolution, like written language, 
like science, like art. It is not an unfolding from the sim- 
ple to the complex, from the lower to the higher and better, 2 
like a growth from seed or bulb to plant, and flower, and 
fruit. The world has not reached its Sabbatism by steps. 
The institution rises up at once — starts off immediately. 
It stands out in complete form at the very sources of his- 
tory ; appearing there at its very best; as perfect as it is 
to-day. It is as ful It featured in the Cosmogony as in the 

1 " Many vain conjectures have been formed concerning the reasons 
and motives which determined all mankind to agree to this primitive 
division of their time. Nothing but tradition, concerning the time 
employed in the creation of the world could give rise to this universal, 
immemorial practice." — President de Goguet. The Origin of Laws 
(1761), vol. 1, p. 230. 

lt The gods, pitying the laborious race of men, have ordained for it 
remission from labor, the return of feast days, in honor of the gods." 
—Plato. De. Leg., 2:1. 

2 u The alternation of working and resting days appeared, even to 
the ancients, as something so primeval in its origin, so indispensable, 
and so closely connected with religion, that they perceived in it, not an 
innovation of human cleverness, but a divine ordinance." — Prof. 
Ernst Curtius. Alterthum and Gegenwert, Berlin, 1875, p. 148. 



SOME CONCLUSIONS FOLLOW. 33 

Legislation of the Hebrew — in the Cosmogony as in the 
Legislation of the Accadian. It is not an Evolution but 
a Revelation. It is a divine Mercury springing full- 
grown from the head and brain of our divine Jupiter. Its 
perfection in the beginning and always makes it, like the 
Ancient of days, " the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever " — makes it God-born. 

The great temple of our world, reared, roofed, and 
complete, was at last peopled with its intelligent Worker 
and Worshiper. Sabbatism sprang from God — from his 
example — from his appointment — establishing a septenary 
rest day for all time. The Sabbath of God gave birth to 
the Sabbath of man. Out of the Creator's rest and 
appointment has sprung all the Sabbatism in the world. 
Thinkers, in whose creed God, the Creator, gave to newly- 
formed man no instruction as to how he should live, deal 
unnaturally with the question. They make him an un- 
natural father. The Bible, whose God walks in Eden, 
communes with the primal man and woman, instructs 
them, and appoints them duties, is a better teacher. The 
" Genesis Legends " of Accad, whose World-maker 
addresses 'his late-born creatures, teaches them duties and 
privileges, and points out the glory of their state, are a 
better teacher. This was fitting and natural. The high- 
est reason — the reason of the heart — endorses it. God 
was man's first teacher, and the law for holy time must 
have been one of his themes and appointments. His 
creation Sabbath would not be kept secret. It would be 
part of the creation narrative rehearsed by divine lips to 
the first man. It must have been so. There must have 
been some unfolding of the divine plan. Otherwise the 
institution of six days work and one day rest — impossible 
to human invention — never would have appeared in 
human history. But it is in history — history the most 
ancient — history at its very fountains. The institution 



34 SABBATH OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

was therefore God-proclaimed as well as God-born. It 
was revealed to Adam. It was commanded to be kept. 
It wears upon its face in history such primal celestial 
credentials. A primeval revelation, announcing the truth 
to the first man., made it the property of all early men. 1 

From Eden — from the era of primeval innocency — 
issued two hallowed institutions, surviving the wreckage of 
the Fall and all the wastes of Time. They are Sabba- 
tism and Marriage; unchanged and changeless divine 
appointments; meeting deep and abiding human needs. 
They rival and parallel each other in the good they do. 
One builds the home ; the other the church ; both society. 
Neither can be abrogated without involving human affairs 
in social and moral disorder. 

Near the gates of Eden — within and without — are 
glimpses of that divine trinity of social regenerators: 
the Day, the Word, and the Temple ; or the Sabbath, the 
Bible, and the Church. Eden had the Sabbath : its 
bowers heard the first Word of Promise : and, imme- 
diately outside its gates, appears the Tent of Meeting — 
Cain and Abel building its altar, and offering sacrifice. 
These have been steadier lights in the world than any 

1U In the state of innocence, God gave the law of the Sabbath." — 
McClintock & Strong. Cycl, Art. Law. 

" The antiquity of the division of time into weeks is so great, its 
observance so widespread, and it occupies so important a place in 
sacred things, that it has been very generally dated from the creation 
of man, who was told from the very first to divide his time on the 
model of the Creator's order of working and resting. The week and 
the Sabbath are, if this be so, as old as man himself; and we need not 
seek for reasons, either in the human mind, or the facts with which 
:hat mind comes in contact, for the adoption of such a division cf 
time, since it is to be referred neither to man's thoughts, nor to man's 
will. A purely theological ground is thus established for the week, 
and for the sacredness of the seventh day." — Smith's Diet, of Bible, 
Art. Week. 



SOME CONCLUSIONS FOLLOW. 35 

incandescent torches lighted from the King of Day. To 
the more than orphaned exiles from Eden, it was no light 
alleviation of their lot to have labor— an entailment of 
sin— suspended one day in seven ; to have the Word of 
Promise overarching their sky as a rainbow of hope ; and 
to have the Tent of Meeting, with its altar and sacrifice, 
as a help and means of return to God. With such divine 
equipments, mankind, fallen, began its mighty march 
along the shores of Time and History. 



SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 



" The cheerful Sabbath bells, wherever heard, 
Strike pleasant on the sense, most like the voice 
Of one who trom the far off hills proclaims 
Tidings of good to Zion."— Charles Lamb. 



The Sabbath, born of the divine example and appoint- 
ment at creation, known and observed in the ancient 
world, was re-enacted by express law al Sinai. Its text, 
as written by the finger of God on one of the two tables 
of stone given to Moses, stood then and will forever stand 
in words of which these are a fair translation : 

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou 
labor and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the 
Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, 
nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy 
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; for in six days the 
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and 
rested the seventh day ; Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day 
and hallowed it."— Ex. 20 : 8-11. 

The Creation Sabbath is the day on its God-ward side; 
the Fourth Commandment Sabbath, the day on its man- 
ward side. The Sabbath for man is the exact counterpart 
of the Sabbath for God ; Godward it is appointed ; man- 
ward it is to be observed. The Fourth Commandment 
gives a graphic view — a pictorial illustration — of man 
in his relation to the Sabbath. I seek to know and to 
make known the Sabbath portrait that it paints of man. 

A Best Day; No Work. 

The Commandment forbids Sabbath worh "In it 
thou shalt not do any work." The work prohibited is 
u thy work " — not divine work — not humane work — not 
works of necessity and mercy. 1 It is secularities that are 

1U You do not, however, consider the law of the Sabbath ; they are 
human works, not divine, which it prohibits.'* — Tertullian, Against 
Jrarcion, 21. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 313. 

36 



A REST DAY; NO WORK, 37 

forbidden. Worldly business, worldly cares, worldly 
pleasures are all to be laid aside. The pulse of industry 
is to be stilled ; the ships and railway trains of commerce 
are to be anchored and stationed; the marts of trade are 
to be closed; and the toil life of man and beast is to 
cease. The Sabbath is God's antidote in breaking the 
curse of ceaseless labor. It is a God-given heritage to toiling 
man. Listen to the Sabbath bells ! They forever ring 
out : "No work ! no work ! no work !" They confront 
the traffic and travel that whirl through the day, and 
still ring on : " No work ! no work ! no work ! " 

The Commandment prescribes Sabbath rest. Man is to 
rest. Rest is of the very substance of Sabbatism. The 
word Sabbath means rest. A Sabbath day means a rest 
day. 1 Now the Creation- Worker, in making rest periods 
for man, shows his care of the human worker. Ceaseless 
toil — " labor in the treadmill of an eternal round, the 
hands and feet forever on the go, the brow forever sweat- 
ing, the loins forever aching "— would fill the world with 
weariness and sadness. A Sabbathless world ! What a 
world it would be of wails and moans ! What a sunless 
world ! But rest periods for man are God's appointment, 
and enforced by the divine example. Human life is not 

*A Sabbath-keeper, meeting a neighbor hauling a load of hay on 
a Sabbath day, suddenly called out : u There, there ! It's broke ! 
You've run right over it." " Kun over what ? " gasped the neighbor 
stopping his team in alarm. " The Sabbath " was the reply. "You've 
run over God's Fouith Commandment, and broken it all to pieces." 

Years ago, in a Midland County, in Old England, an orphan boy, a 
church goer, worked in a factory where he earned five shillings ($1.25) 
a week. The overseer of the factory ordered him to work on Sabbath. 
James went to church. Next morning the overseer said : " Where 
were you yesterday ? " "I went to church, sir." " Then you may go 
to church again to-day," said the overseer, and paid him his wages. 
James immediately sought work in other factories. A merchant heard 
of his dismissal, and its cause, and engaged him, at increased wages, 
in his stores where he rose to wealth by his correct and steady habits. 



38 SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

meant to be all toil. Pauses from secularities are divinely 
arranged for all worn and weary ones. The Sabbath, 
with trailing garments of light, brings rest and refresh- 
ment. O, if all tired people would but let themselves 
know the sweetness of real Sabbath rest ; business toils 
and ventures put aside ; sordid cares and perplexities 
barred out; and fellowship with pure thoughts invited! 
This is divine Sabbatism. This is restful. 

The prohibition of work, and the Commandment to 
rest, in holy time, are broad and sweeping. They relate 
to thee, O man, to thy son, to thy daughter, to thy man- 
servant, to thy maid-servant, to thy guest, and to thy 
cattle. 1 Does God care for cattle? Yes. He mentions 
them with tenderness, and provides rest periods for them 
in his Sabbath law. In all this I am only a reporter and 
interpreter of divine words. If the Fourth Command- 
ment means anything at all, it means that all secular 
work is forbidden to man and beast in holy time; and 
that to do it then is sin. The day is not for common uses 
— for personal gains and ambitions. Secularities, because 
an invasion of the day and an assault upon the Sabbath- 
maker, are all placed under ban. To work is sin. To 
rest is duty. 

Six Days Wokk and One Day Rest. 

The Commandment prescribes six days work. " Six 
days shall thou labor and do all thy work." Thus six 
days out of seven are set apart and given to man for his 
own uses — for secularities — for business pursuits and pleas- 
ures. Man, after God's example, is required to work as 
well as rest. He is to work six days in seven. Work six 

lu It was designed to prevent the emancipated Israelites from prac- 
tising the hard and bitter lessons they had learned as slaves, on those 
who should afterwards serve them." — Bishop H. W. Warren, in Sab- 
bath Essays, 



eiX DAYS WORK AND ONE DAY REST. 39 

days out of seven is the divine appointment and a human 
duty. This is the Commandment. All idlers, sluggards, 
Jo-nothings, during this work-period are breakers of the 
Sabbath law. 1 

The Commandment also prescribes a seventh day rest. 
Rest, one day in seven, is the divine appointment and a 
human duty. A seventh of bur time is reserved by the 
Divine Giver of all time. "The seventh day is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God." It is his — his day — his in- 
stitution — his property ; even as the altar is his, or as the 
Church is his, or as I am his. 2 He has set it apart for 
himself; to be his day, not man's; to be used for rest, not 
for secularities. It is to be employed, not according to 
our inclinations, but according to his directions. Heaven's 
boon to the six days' worker is this seventh day rest. 
Blessed day ! Divine gift to toil doomed man ! This is 
the patrimony of every man. He has a God-given right 
to a seventh day rest. Resting one day in seven meets the 

1 The rich who do no work — idle time away — are breakers of the 
Sabbath law, even as the poor who will not work six days in seven. 
An employer dismissed a workman, telling him that it was because he 
broke the Fourth Commandment. The workman denied, and said he 
always rested on the Sabbath. " Kepeat the Commandment," said the 
employer. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," said the 
workman, and stopped. "Go on," said the employer. He would not. 
" Then I must do it for you," said the employer : " Six days shalt thou 
labor and do all thy work." That's the part I complain of. You rest 
readily enough on the Sabbath ; but you don't work faithfully on the 
other six days." 

2 "Did you ever hear of the meanest of pickpockets? A man, who 
had but seven dollars, gave him, in his apparent poverty, six of them ; 
and he, watching his opportunity, picked his benefactor's pocket of the 
seventh. Sabbath -breaker, thou art the man. God has given you six 
days for your own interests, to speak your own words, and go your own 
ways, and think your own thoughts; and then you have turned about 
and robbed him of the seventh. But not only that, you have robbed 
yourself, your body, and mind, and pocket, as well as your soul." — Sab. 
for Man, pp. 215-16. 



40 SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

requirements of Sabbatic law, and nothing less does. All 
Sabbath workers are breakers of the Commandment. 

The divine frame is complete in six work days and one 
rest day ; and this divine method for working and resting 
is the model for human working and resting. Human life 
so spent is in harmony with the life of God. 1 Man, a 
pilgrim, moves in toilsome marches from the cradle to the 
grave. Six days' journeying brings him weariness, but 
also brings him to a divinely arranged Sabbath arbor, 
where he may find rest and refreshment. Freshened forces 
equip him for other toilsome effort. Journeying and rest- 
ing are both God's appointment; the journeying as much 
as the resting ; and the resting as much as the journeying. 
The Commandment enforces equally six days' work and a 
seventh day rest. The divine example imparts a tender- 
ness to the whole duty. God created and then rested. In 
the domain of morals, example teaching is supreme; high- 
er than precept ; superior to express law. "Actions speak 
louder than words." God's example, as a World-Maker 
and as a Sabbath-Keeper, appoints six days' work and a 
seventh day rest to man. Man, in all his generations, is 



1 " Six days' work and the seventh day's rest conform the life of man 
to the method of his Creator. In distributing his life thus, man may 
look up to God as his Archetype." — Francis Garden, in Smith's 
Diet, of the Bible, p. 2761. 

" What statesman could have first discovered that in ordinary time 
the period of labor ought to be to the period of rest as six to one? 
Moses, then, having to regulate the labors and the days, the rests and 
the festivals, the toils of the body and the exercises of the soul, the 
interests of hygiene and of morals, political economy and personal 
subsistence, had recourse to a science of numbers, to a transcendent 
harmony which embraced all space, duration, movement, spirits, bodies, 
the sacred and the profane. The certainty of the series is demonstrated 
by the result. Diminish the week by a single day, the labor is insuffi- 
cient relative to the repose ; augment it in the same quantity, it be- 
comes excessive." — Proudhon, De la Celebration du Dimanche, p. 67. 



A HOLY DAY. 41 

required to mirror forth in himself the Creator's work 
periods and his rest period. 1 

A Holy Day. 

The Commandment prescribes that the rest day shall be 
kept holy. " Keep it holy." Every day is holy, but the 
Sabbath holiest of all. As Horeb was holy to the feet of 
Moses, because of God's presence in the burning brush ; as 
the inner sanctuary was holiest of all because of its in- 
dwelling Shekinah ; so the Sabbath is holy because it is a 
day of special divine manifestations by the self-revealing 
God. It is consecrated time, even as the Mount of Trans- 
figuration was to Peter consecrated ground. It soars 
above the mere commonplaces of everyday life, and is 
marked off from other days even as the Tabernacle was 
marked off from all the tents of Israel. 2 

Man's hallowed rest, like God's, is not to be a cessation 
from activity, but a change of activity; not a cessation 
from work, but a change of work. Holy rest is not in- 
action — idling — loafing — sleeping away sacred time. This 
is the Sabbath of a brute, not of a man. The day is not 
only separated from common but set apart to sacred uses. 
It requires worship as well as rest^divine work in the 
way of meditation and devotion. It demands from all, 

1 "We are to account the sanctification of one day in seven a duty 
which God's immutable law doth exact forever." — Hooker. 

"There is no middle ground between keeping the Sabbath holy unto 
God and its utter licentiousness. Compromise is treason. Surrender 
is cowardice. To fight for the right is heroism. " — Dr. J. O. Peck, 
Sabbath Essays. 

2 " If the day is at all holy time, it is all holy time. Compromise to- 
day of half the Sabbath means the capture of the whole to-morrow. 
The only way we can defend the citadel is to fight for the whole of it." 
Dr. J. O. Peck, in Six Days Shalt Thou Labor. 

"The Decalogue .... is a law exclusively religious and moral, 
which only twines itself about the duties of man to God, and to his 
fellow-creatures." — Guizot, Medita. on the Essence of Christ., 21 S. 



42 SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

not only a sacred pause from the humdrum of ordinary 
toil, but its employment in spiritual thoughts and holy 
pursuits. Sacred meditations, free from secularities, are its 
suitable furniture and befitting deeds. This sanctification 
of the day is enforced on a higher plane than that of mere 
expediency, or because it is a law of the land. It is a 
duty which God's immutable law exacts from every one. 
Neglected Sabbaths imperil both soul and body. He who 
made the world and us gave us the Sabbath and the law 
that should govern its use ; and he bids us keep it holy. 1 

A Blessed Day. 

The Commandment appoints the Sabbath to be a blessed 
day. "The Lord blessed the Sabbath day." 2 He makes 

1 '' Come on Sunday/' said an elderly gentleman to little six year 
old Bob ; "for I am at home all day, and want to see you." 

" Why," said Bob ; " do you really stay at home all day on Sunday ? " 

" Yes," said the elderly man ; " don't you ?" 

" No, indeed ; I go to church and Sunday-school ; and so does papa. 
It is wicked not to go to church, if you are well." 

It was a little word — a little seed thought. It did its work. The 
elderly gentleman became a steady church-goer. 

2 "I feel as if God had, by the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in 
the year." — Coleridge. 

" In the ring and circle of the week, the Sabbath is the jewel, the 
most excellent and precious of days." — Bishop Hezekiah Hopkins. 
" Sunday is the golden clasp 
That hinds the volume of the week."— Longfelloav. 

"Through the week we go down into the valley of care and shadows : 
our Sabbaths should be hills of light and joy in God's presence." — 
Henry Ward Beecher. 

" A blessed Sabbath ! The ladder set up on earth whose top reache g 
to heaven, with angels of God ascending and descending on it." — 
Rev. Jas. Hamilton, D. D. 

" O day most sweet, most calm, most bright, 
The bridal of the Earth and Sky."— Herbert. 

"This is the day which the Lord hath made ; w T e will rejoice and be 
glad therein."— Ps. 118 : 24. 

" what a blessed day is the Sabbath, which allows us a precious 
interval wherein to pause, to come out of the thickets of worldly con- 
cerns, and give ourselves up to heavenly and spiritual things."— Wil- 
bekforce. 



ARGUMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. 43 

it overtop other days, even as Saul and Jonathan over- 
topped by the head and shoulders the men of Israel in 
their times. He freights the day with special blessings, 
even as the Virgin Mary is blessed above women. This 
divine endowment makes the day satisfy deep human 
needs, and minister grace and help to all Sabbath keepers. 
Holy-day is a season not of stern privation, but of special 
privilege; not of restricted liberty, but of recreation and 
happiness. It is our best day; the jubilee of man; a 
cooling and refreshing spring to the traveler through the 
desert; the brightest page in the volume of the week. It 
conducts us among the wells and palm trees of sacred 
rest. 

The World-maker, O man, employs his Sabbath in bless- 
ing others — the living forms that he keeps pulsing in life 
— man whom he has redeemed and is seeking to save. So 
thy Sabbath should be made a blessing to thy neighbor. 
To do good — to give help to the needy — to do works of 
necessity and mercy — is of the very essence of Sabbath 
keeping. What can fairly be done on Saturday, or de- 
ferred till Monday, is indeed no work of necessity; as 
social visits; journeyings begun or ended to save time; or 
reading secular newspapers. But all well-doing, lying in 
the realm of essential right, or of human need, is not 
merely permissible but obligatory in sacred as in secular 
time. Even secularities, employed for divine purposes, 
not for personal ends, are suitable Sabbath deeds. So 
keeping the day never hurts, but helps and blesses, the 
individual — the community — the nation. 

Arguments and Conclusions. 

The travesties of genius and learning seem inscrutable. 
Some scholars have held that the Decalogue, others that 
the Fourth Commandment, including in each case the 



44 (SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

Sabbath, is for the Jew alone. Is the Old Testament — 
is the Messiah — for the Jew alone? Why then the im- 
perishable Decalogue? Or the equally imperishable Sab- 
bath ? This is the pivotal point of a long contention — 
an extended battle — among the reformers. It is a very 
Gibraltar of unreasoning prejudice. Its advocates climb 
no Sinai, nor even camp at its base. Theirs is but the 
logic of doubt. It had its little hour. It created a ripple 
on the surface of thought. It has drawn its last gasp. 
Its warriors have all trooped by. The restatement of the 
Sabbath, as revised by accumulating evidence, has routed 
them " horse, foot, and dragoons." 

The Sabbath is not a Judaic ordinance in any sense in 
which it is not an ordinance for man as man. The Fourth 
Commandment, as already seen, forbids such an idea, by 
beginning with the word "remember." 1 It calls on Israel 
to keep in mind an old commandment which had been in 
the world from the beginning. It was not the first pro- 
mulgation of the Sabbath law. It was but a re-enactment 
of an older institution ; an institution coeval with man in 
Eden ; an institution dating back to God's Creation Sab- 
bath. It recognizes, republishes, and enforces the Sabbath, 
but did not originate it. It did not invent it. It merely 
discovered it in the world, and put it anew under the form 
of express law. The Sabbath came to the Jews from- the 
ages before. Septenary holy time belonged to the first 
man, and will be the property and privilege of his latest 

I " The law of the Sabbath is universal, and not peculiar to the 
Jews." — Watson. Institutes, 2 : 520. 

II The form of the Fourth Commandment — l Remember the Sabbath 
day' — points not to the ordaining of a new day, but the sanctioning of 
an old one." — Francis Brown. Pres. Rev., Oct. 1882, p. 686. 

" ' Remember the Sabbath day ' — implying it was already known and 
recognized as a season of rest." — Jamieson-Fausset-Brown. Corn 
Ex. 20 : 8-11. 



ARGUMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. 45 

descendant. It is of world-wide authority and obliga- 
tion. 1 

The Creation Sabbath and the Decalogue Sabbath are one. 
They have the very same elements; a rest day ; a seventh- day 
rest; a holy rest ; and a blessed rest. This is the very sub- 
stance of the Sabbath of God and the Sabbath for man — of 
the Creation Sabbath and the Decalogue Sabbath. The 
Sabbath of the Decalogue is a unit with all preceding 
Sabbatism ; with the Sabbath of creation ; with the Sab- 
bath of the ancient world ; is a copy of it and its continu- 
ation ; is its re-enactment in the form of express law. It 
is impossible then in fairness to regard the Decalogue Sab- 
bath as a mere Jewish institution — as a Jewish institution 
in any sense in which it is not also an institution for man 
as man. There ain't a Judaism in it, or a Judaic form 
about it. It is wider, and greater, and more durable than 
any mere Jewish law. It has not a word peculiar to the 
Jewish people. It does not start from a Jewish founda- 
tion. It antedates Judaism and survives it. 2 If the Jew 
needs a seventh-day for rest and worship, so does man 
everywhere and in all time. The Decalogue Sabbath has 
this air of wideness and perpetuity. Within the plan and 

1 " God gave the Sabbath, his first ordinance, to man while he stood 
the father and representive of the whole human race ; therefore 
the Sabbath is not for one nation, for one time, for one place." — Dr. 
Adam Cearke. 

"If the divine command was actually delivered at the creation, it 
was addressed, no doubt, to the whole human species alike, and con- 
tinues, unless repealed by some subsequent revelation, binding upon all 
who come to the knowledge of it. This opinion precludes all debate 
about the extent of the obligation." — Paeey's Mor. Phi. Book 4, Chap. 7. 

2 "We do not owe the Sabbath to the Jew ; we received it from God. 
It was thundered indeed from Sinai to the Jew, but it was whispered to 
us from Paradise, when the heavens and the earth were finished, and 
God blessed the day of rest." — H. J. Brown. 

" Whether or not the Sinaitic Sabbath was ordained for Gentile as 
well as Jew, the original rest-day was made for the human race." — 
Prof. J. T. Tucker, in Sabbath Essays. 



46 SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

ordering of God, it is not for a single period, or for a 
single people, but for time and man. These are its divine 
boundaries. 

The Fourth Commandment is part and parcel of that 
wonderful epitome of moral law — that complete summary 
of human duty — the Decalogue — that was given, not 
merely to the Jew, but to man as man. It was written 
by the finger of God on the same tables of stone on which 
were traced the sublime precepts, forbidding image worship, 
profanity, and covetous desires; commanding children to 
honor their parents; and making it the duty of every one 
to hold sacred the life, the chastity, the reputation, and the 
property of others. 1 The Sabbath, thus appointed, and in 
such society, must be as universal, as permanent, and as 
binding, as those other great and imperishable principles, 
that, interpenetrative like the air, and surviving all change, 
appear everywhere in the civil and religious laws of so- 
ciety. " Noscitur a sociis"— -it is known by its allies. 
It is in excellent company. As its associates are, so is it 
As they are binding upon all men, everywhere and for all 

1 In 1858 a Sunday school worker was, on Sunday morning, on a 
ferry boat going from Brooklyn to New York, to his Sunday school. 
He noticed a bright-eyed boy on the boat with books under his arm, 
evidently on the way to Sunday school. He thought he would test the 
boy, and asked him if he would go with him to Harlem, a pleasure 
resort. 

"Sir," said the lad, "did you never read the commandments ? " 

"The Commandments ! what are they?" said the gentleman. 

" Well, sir, there is one which says, ' Remember the Sabbath day to 
keep it holy.' " 

" Well, what of that, my boy, will it not be keeping it holy to go to 
Harlem?" 

"No, sir ; and I shall not go with you." 

After farther testing the lad, with an offer of twenty-five cents if he 
would go, and meeting with refusal, the gentleman made known his 
real character, and found means to help the lad — a son of intemper- 
ate parents — in life. 



ARGUMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. 47 

time, so is it. It, even as they, is not ceremonial, but 
moral. It, like they, is of universal and perpetual obli- 
gation — a primitive and unchangeable natural law. The 
Sabbath has forever and aye all the sanctions of the 
Decalogue. 1 

The reason assigned in the Fourth Commandment for 
Sabbath-keeping belongs, not merely to the Jew, but to 
man as man. That reason is the divine example of six 
days' work and one day's rest. The divine example estab- 
lishes duty, not merely for the Jew, but for man as man — 
for all men in all time. God kept the weekly period of 
six work days and one rest day ; therefore such a period is 
appointed to man. God rested on the seventh day ; there- 
fore man should have a seventh-day rest. Now all this is 
in the Fourth Commandment, and makes its reason for 
Sabbath keeping universal and perpetual. It is the exam- 
ple of God that vitalizes the Sabbath ; that makes it obli- 
gatory upon the Gentile as upon the Jew ; that makes it 
binding upon all. One and all are, at their peril, under 
obligation to keep a seventh-day rest. 2 

The Ten Commandments, as a code of morals, are 
adapted to man in all ages, countries, climes, and circum- 

1 "There it stands with nothing to differentiate it from the other 
Commandments. It is as strong as they, or as weak ; as transitory, or 
as enduring. Have they been fulfilled by Jesus ? So has it. Has 
Jesus exhausted the curse following on transgressions of the nine ? So 
has he exhausted the curse due to Sabbath-breaking. Has the Law- 
fulfiller left the nine to guide the feet and rule the life of his people ? 
So does he leave the law of weekly sacred rest for like ends. It stands 
between the three which have their faces towards God, and the six 
which look towards man. As Jehovah's Sabbath, it binds man to 
God ; and as man's Rest Day, it unites him to his fellows." — Gritton. 
Time's Feast, Heaven's Foretaste. 

2 "The Sabbath was not smuggled into the Calendar of the week by 
a crafty church, neither is it sustained by designing priests. God es- 
tablished the Sabbath ; and the hand that upholds the sun and revolves 
the seasons, secures the recurrence of the Holy Day." — Dr. E. B. 
Webb. The Sabbath. 



48 SABBATH OF THE DECALOGUE. 

stances. They are so perfect, that, like nature itself, 
there has been given no second edition of them. Science, 
art, language, has, each, enlarged its boundaries, and i* ever 
modifying its forms of expression. But the Ten Com- 
mandments, dating back to distant times, have come across 
the ages without alteration or improvement; not one new 
duty added ; not one fallen into disuse. They are widely 
the laws of modern thought and civilization. Time and 
experience neither annul or improve them. The Ten, 
though engrossed for the Jews, are laws for all mankind. 
The Sabbath is one of the Ten ; is enshrined in the very 
heart of the Ten ; and has all the high sanctions and obli- 
gations that belong to the Ten. It is a universal and 
imperishable law. 

The very atmosphere of the Sabbath, as incorporated in 
the Decalogue, is suggestive of permanence and universal- 
ity. It was written, not on parchment, a symbol of the 
perishable, but on stone, a symbol of the imperishable. 
It was written, not among the ceremonial and civil laws 
of the Jews, that had national limitations, but among the 
moral laws that relate to all people and to all time. And 
it was preserved as remarkably as it was promulged; 
among associated moral laws ; in an ark prepared by spe- 
cial directions of God ; and in the Holy of holies that 
shrined and guarded the most sacred things. I stand in 
profound reverence before the Decalogue Sabbath. Its 
majesty overwhelms me. Its high divinity commands my 
fealty and obedience. It is God, the High and Holy 
One, who here gives express charge to all men everywhere, 
to work six days, and then rest one day. This Sabbath 
law is authoritative over individuals, corporations and 
communities. Sabbath keeping is duty ; Sabbath breaking 
sin. And the Sabbath-maker, O man, seated upon the 
circle of the heavens, keeps a forever watch and guard 






ARGUMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS. 49 

over his own day — over its keeping — and over its desecra- 
tion. 1 

1 " A father said to his con, who was a Sunday school scholar, " carry 
this package to place." 

" It is Sabbath," replied the boy. 

" Put it in your pocket," said the father. 

" God can see in my pocket," was the instant reply. 

A little Sunday school girl, for repeating well from memory the 
Twenty- third Psalm, was presented, by a visitor, with a dime. Her 
father was present and said : 

"A great many shops are open, though it is God's day. You must 
not go into them to spend the dime to-day ; but keep it for to-morrow. 
Now I won't be with you to see you, but there is One who will see you 
if you break the Sabbath. Who will see you ? " 

11 Myself will see me," was her reply. 

It was expected she would say, " God will see me." Her addition 
to this Scriptural idea is good. We are witnesses of all our doings. 



SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 



" The Golden Age was first, when man, yet new, 
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew, 
And ; with a native bent, did good pursue. 

* * # * * * 4 * 
Succeeding times a silver age beheld. 

To this came next in course the brazen age. 

* ■&**#* * 

Hard steel succeeded then, 
And stubborn as the metal were the men."— Ovid. 



From Abraham to the close of the Old Testament, 
seventh day Sabbatism, among Gentile nations, changed 
for the worse — suffered decay — fell into disuse. The 
ancient divine forms in which it tabernacled — the weekly 
cycle — the seventh of days — and which stand out clearly 
in the morning sky overarching post-diluvian man, were 
slowly but steadily obscured and mutilated. They grew 
corrupt ; and, at last, nothing of Sabbatism remained 
among Gentile peoples but multitudinous effigies. The 
reason for this decadence of the institution is plain. 1 
Mere tradition, that opens not but shuts all the gates of 
progress, is insufficient to preserve and perpetuate the 
purer ideas, and institutions. Change comes, but not in 
the way of improvement, always in the direction of de- 
generacy — of decay. It was so with the ancient divine 
Sabbath ; historic with Moses and Abraham ; historic with 
Babylonians, Assyrians, and Accadians. It appears in 

1 Pres. Seelye traces to " an inherent law of deterioration " the Sab- 
bath declension now going on among us. And says : " It only repre- 
sents a universal tendency among men. Singular as it may seem, the 
fact is clear that human nature is far more active in throwing away 
its privileges than in pressrving them." — The Princeton Review, Nov., 

1880, p. 338. 

50 



SABBATISM OP GENTILE NATIONS. 51 

later times entangled with the astronomic element; its 
weekly cycle merging into other periods ; its holy day 
into holidays; its blessed rest and devotion into sensual 
and corrupting rites ; and, in cases, it entirely disappears. 

Silent spaces in distant history, so brief and frag- 
mentary, are as clouds upon the scene, under which the 
light that we seek disappears. They are as great gaps 
that make the steps of Sabbath change and decay indis- 
tinguishable. But the fact of change for the worse 
remains. 1 The marchings of early nations, unguided 
by a special divine revelation, took everywhere routes of 
deterioration. When the Old Testament ended — or when 
the Babylonian captivity ended — Gentile nations had no 
weekly period, no seventh day Sabbath, no regularly 
recurring holy and blessed rest day. These institutions do 
not anywhere fairly appear among them in that far away 
period. All Gentile nations, indeed, by the movings of 
tired and restless human nature, devised some poor sub- 
stitutes for the week and its Sabbatism, as nundince y 
decades, and annual festal days. 2 But the week drop- 
ped out of their history. A seventh of days ceased to 

1 Historic silences are stumbling blocks to ignorance, and have many 
misinterpretations. They abound in the oldest and fragmentary 
records of the Bible. The law of sacrifice must have been instituted 
before Cain and Abel made their offering ; and yet the Bible is silent 
as to its institution ; and it is not mentioned again till after the Flood. 
The distinction between clean and unclean animals was known to 
Noah; but its origin is nowhere reported. From Moses to Jeremiah 
there is no allusion to circumcision. And there is no mention of the 
Sabbath from Moses to David. Bossuet, in his universal history, does 
not, it is said, mention the Sabbath. Arguments from historic silences 
are uncertain. Silent spaces in history hide the steps of Sabbath 
decay ; and they can only be seen by comparing the later with the 
earlier records. 

2 " That the heathen, nevertheless, from time immemorial, have known 
certain festive periods, appears from their mythological systems." — 
Lange's Comment, on Gen. p. 192. 



52 SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 

be kept for hallowed rest. Sabbatism was dead. The 
proofs of this are fairly complete and satisfactory. 

The researches of science point to the highlands of Ar- 
menia, breaking away into the valleys of the Tigris and 
the Euphrates, as the primitive seats of post-diluvian man 
— of Accadians, Assyrians, Babylonians. There Babel, 
u the temple of the Seven Spheres," arose. There human 
speech was confused. Thence mankind scattered, to peo- 
ple the earth as races and nations. Those first men were 
all Sabbatarians. They knew the weekly period. The 
historic and legendary week and Sabbath are inscribed in 
their resurrected clay tablets. But their primitive beliefs 
and customs were changed. The Sabbath and the week 
do not appear among later occupants of those primal seats 
of civilization. At the time of the Babylonian captivity, 
they were clearly not Sabbatarians ; they did not have the 
week. For they mocked at the Sabbaths of the captive 
Jews. They antagonized Jewish customs and laivs, chief 
of which was the Sabbath. And they were in the habit 
of selecting Sabbath days for attacking the Jews in bat- 
tle. 1 These historic facts report them Sabbathless. Their 

I " The anti-Sabbatic spirit comes out subsequently in the conduct of 
the Babylonian * adversaries of Jerusalem/ who not only ' mocked at 
her Sabbaths/ but compelled her people to labor without any rest."— 
Lam. 1:7; 5 : 5. Gilfilean. The Sabbath, 2. 

" Babylonians and Jews were almost always at variance, by reason of 
the contrariety of their laws."— Josephus. Antiq., 18 : 9: 8. 

" Mithridates (Babylonian and Parthian Commander) . . intend- 
ing to fight them on the day following, because it was the Sabbath, 
the day on which the Jews rest." — Josephus. Antiq., 18 : 9 : 6. 
See also 18: 9: 2. 

II It is practically certain that the Babylonians at the time of the He- 
brew exile cannot have had a Sabbath exactly corresponding in con- 
ception to what the Hebrew Sabbath had become." — Cycl. Brit, Art. 
Sabbath. 

" We have no evidence of the establishment of set festivals in As- 
syria. Apparently the monarchs decided of their own will when a 
feast should be held to any god." — Kawlinson. Seven Great Mon- 
archies, 1 : 365. 



SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 53 

Sabbath and week were in ruins ; entombed in buried 
" Record Chambers." It is fair history that, in those an- 
cient seats of life where Moses locates the first kingdom, 
and where Berosus regarded a Chaldean monarchy as ex- 
isting two thousand years before Christ, they had ceased 
from keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. Syrians were 
Sabbathless. Historic Persia had no Sabbath. And his- 
toric Media had no known Sabbath. 1 

The chronology of ancient Egypt — land of myths and 
many gods — is much in dispute among critical scholars. 
The Manetho Dynasties, prior to the Eighteenth, are all 
uncertain. The Egyptian kingdom, antedating Abraham, 
a nomad chief, looks very primitive in his day. 2 The 
Pharoah's wealth is estimated in flocks and herds. a The 
Egyptians seem dwellers in shifting tents ; to become later 
builders along the Nile. It may yet be found that the 
Nile monuments, all dateless, were built since that known 
period ; that the extreme dates of enthusiastic Egyptologists 
will have to be abandoned ; and that even the more sober 

a Gen. 12 : 16. 

1 " Neither was it lawful for a man to keep Sabbath days." — 2 
Mace., 6 : 6. 

" Others had run together into caves near by to keep the Sabbath 
secretly."— 2 Mace, 6: 11. 

" Her feasts were turned into mourning, her Sabbaths into reproach.' 
— 1 Mace, 1 : 39. 

" Antiochus had sent letters . . . that they should profane the 
Sabbath."— 1 Mace, 1 : 45. 

" Made war against them on the Sabbath day." — 1 Mace, 2: 32. 

li So they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath." — 1 Mace, 
2 : 33. 

" Nicanor . . . resolved without any danger to set upon them 
on the Sabbath day."— 2 Mace, 15: 1. 

See also 1 Mace, 1 : 43 ; 2 : 34 ; 2 : 41 ; and 2 Mace, 5 : 25-6 ; 15 : 3-4. 

2 " They found a Pharoah on the throne, at the head of an organi- 
zed government. The Egyptians, however, were a scattered and weak 
people compared with what they came to be afterwards." — Pond. 
Con. on the Bible, 126. 



54 SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 

dates of cautious authorities will need toning down. Jo- 
seph, it is known, converted the kingdom into a despotism ; 
the people into serfs ; and exacted a fifth of all their yearly 
earnings tor the Pharoah. .This mighty bondage, never 
lifted, made possible all the Nile monuments. Later the 
building instinct appears. Israelites were drudges as brick- 
makers, and built for Pharoah treasure cities, as Pithom and 
Eameses. But Egypt, with sensibly reduced dates, will rank, 
after Chaldea, as the oldest known seat of life, civilization 
art. The temples and palaces that, in ruins, still dot the 
Nile valley, evoke the ghosts of very ancient times. The 
pyramids, the " books of kings/' connect us with the fabu- 
lous past — with fabulous learning — with a mystical priest- 
hood. In that most ancient Egypt was veneration for the 
number seven — was the seven-day cycle — was the week's 
name uk — was the seventh-day rest. These are in the old- 
est hieroglyphs. Then they disappear. They do not belong 
to later periods ; to the golden age of art and letters ; to 
the Egypt reported by Grecian travelers and writers. The 
people outgrew their traditional religion. The Pharoah of 
the Exodus denounced the Hebrews for Sabbatizing. The 
week disappeared. The Calendar was changed. 1 The de- 
cade was enthroned. It is the month of thirty days, divi- 
ded into three decades, that appears on the monuments. 

1 " The old Egyptians had a week of ten not of seven days." — Cycl. 
Brit, Art. Sabbath. 

" The Egyptians, however, were without it (the week), dividing their 
month of 30 days into decades/' — McClintock & Strong. CycL, Art. 
Chronology. 

"The week, consisting of seven days, was unknown to the Egyptians, 
. . . who had a week of ten days." — Schrader. The Cuneiform 
Ins., and the Old Test., 18. 

" The Egyptians . . . divided their solar month into . . . 
three parts of ten days each, . . . The decade division was a latei 
introduction." — Kawlinson. Hist. Herodo., 2 : 282. 

" Wilkenson, (Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt), shows that th« 
week of seven days existed in the earliest times in Egypt, though after 
wards superseded by the decade." — Ihe Sab. for Man, 527. 



SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 55 

From Manetho's Eighteenth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic 
kingdom — when the Jews were colonized in Alexandria — 
Egypt had the decade, not the week. 

Hindoos and Chinese, derivative but very ancient peo- 
ples, possessed, in earlier histories and legends, the seven- 
day period and an associated Sabbatism. But these insti- 
tutions do not appear among their later inheritances. 1 The 
Hindoo literature, a noble monument of an ancient civili- 
zation, has had, from the beginning of the Vedic period, 
no recognized septenary cycle or Sabbatism. And these 
institutions have also disappeared from Chinese literature 
and customs, since the fall of the Tscheu Dynasty and the 
appearance of Confucianism. Somewhere the gates of 
progress were closed, and the gates of decay opened for the 
disappearance of their ancient divine institutions. 

Prehistoric Greece, a probably still later people, shows 
but diminished traces of the primal week and Sabbatism. 
Among the earlier writers, the number seven was widely 
current and venerated; and suggestions appear of the sev- 
enth-day as sacred. But these things cease from special 
currency, or entirely disappear, in later literature. It is 
the decade, not the hebdomad — the annual festival, not the 
seventh-day rest — that reigns in all the historic period — 
the classic Greek period. When Jews and Greeks, in the 
fourth century before Christ, began to commingle in his- 
tory, the Jewish seven-day week and Sabbath became 

1 " According to the best authorities, long ag-es before our era, there 
existed in China a deep-seated conviction that the idolatry existing was 
a corruption of a purer faith." — J. L., in Nation. Repository, May 1877, 
p.453. 

"In a work ascribed to Fuh-he, who is supposed to have lived con- 
siderably more than four thousand years ago, the following remarkable 
sentence is to be found : — ' Every seven days comes the revolution'— that 
is, of the heavenly bodies, as generally explained by Chinese scholars ; 
and it is a singular fact, that in the Chinese almanacs of the present 
day, there are four names applicable, during the course of each lunar 
month, to the days which answer to our Sundays." — Gillespie's Land 
of Sinim, pp. 161-2. 



56 SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 

known to the Greeks; and Greek writers, like Polybius, 
Plutarch, and Strabo, speak of the Sabbath as a new and 
surprising arrangement. ' 

The ancient Romans, appearing later in history, never 
had the week or the Sabbath. They divided their month 
into Calends, Nones, and Ides. They had nundince — a 
nine day period closing with a fair or market day. An- 
nual festal days, when they abstained from business, were 
many, and were held to be important. Cicero commends 
them. Seneca applauds the wisdom of their 'institution. 
When Jews and Romans began to commingle in history, 
Roman writers, as Appian, Cicero, Ovid, Horace, and 
Juvenal, mention the Jewish Sabbath, to doubt its expe- 
diency — to oppose it — to satirize it.* 

This corruption of the seven-day week and of its Sab- 
batism is part of that mighty downward trend of Pagan 
nations, after the flood, that is recorded by themselves, and 
that appears as a descent from a primal Golden Age to an 

1 " The Greeks divided the month into three decades, or periods oi 
ten days." — Encyc. Brit , Art. Calendar. 

" The ancient Greeks. . . .had no division properly answering to our 
weeks. . . .had their decades of days." — Anthon. Man. Class. Lit, 61. 

" Every month was divided into three decades of days." — A Cat. of 
Grecian Antiq., 79. 

"The week, consisting of seven days, was unknown to the Greeks 

who had a week of ten days." — Dr. Schradeb. The Cuneiform Ins. and 
the Old Test, 18. 

2 "The Koman calendar knows absolutely nothing of a hallowed 
Beventh-day." — The Inter. Cyc, Art. Sabbath. 

" The Romans divided their months into three parts, viz.: Kalends, 
Nones, and Ides; and not as we do into weeks in imitation of the Jews." 
— Cat. of Rom. Antiq., 74, 

" The ancient Greeks and Romans had no division properly answer- 
ing to our weeks ; although the former had their decades of days, and 
the latter their nundinse, or market days, occurring every ninth day." 
— Anthon's Man. of Class. Lit. p. 61. 

" The Nundina? occupied every ninth day and market days."— Ovid. 
Fast, i, 54. 



SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 57 

age of Silver — to one of Brass — and at last to one of 
Iron. 1 All primitive peoples had traditions of a Golden 
Age and of the Fall. The confession of decadence does 
not come from disappointed characters — from social fail- 
ures — but from Persian Magi, from Hindoo Sages, from 
Eminent Greeks and Romans, as Hesiod, Plato, Arafus, 
and Ovid. It was a farther descent into the wilderness 
which man's sin had made out of his native Paradise. 
Nature tends to run wild. A plant, neglected, changes 
into. a worse plant; a garden into weeds; a domestic 
animal into wild forms. So man, self-neglected, becomes 
a worse man and a lower man ; disuse of functions leading 
to decay of faculty; unimproved talents taken away. The 
law is universal. Institutions and customs bow to it. 
Without the care of eternal vigilance, they drop into other 
and worse forms — reappear in new shapes- — or entirely 
disappear. This is a historic picture of the seven-day 
week, and the seventh-day Sabbath, in the ancient Gentile 
world. Perfect in Eden, distinct and clear among all ear- 
lier men, only corrupt forms appear in later times. 

Nothing is more certain in ancient history — among the 
earliest nations — in the earliest seats of mankind — than the 
universal prevalence, from the Nile to the Ganges, of an 
exact seven-day week, and the seventh-day Sabbath. This 
is historically true. But wider dispersions and later his- 
tories show steady departures from these ancient historic 
institutions;. Sabbatism disappearing in multitudinous fes- 
tal days that Plato traces to the gods; and the exact seven- 
day week dropping into the inexact astronomical week — 
into a five-day period in Mexico — into a nine-day period 

1 " The Greeks thought there had been four ages— the Golden age, 
the Silver age, the Brazen age, and the Iron age — and that people had 
been getting worse in each of them." — Pictorial Hist, of the Great 
Nations, Vol. 1, p. 2. 

"On earth of yore the sons of men abode 
From evil free and labor's galling load." 

Hksiod. Creation of Pandora 



58 SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 

in Peru and Rome — and into a ten-day period in Egypt 
and Greece. At the epoch of five centuries before Christ, 
all Gentile nations were without the seven-day week, and 
without the Seventh-day Sabbath. Romans had them 
not — never had — had Nundinoe. Greeks and Egyptians 
had them not — had lost them — had the decade. Hindoos, 
Chinese, Babylonians, Syrians, Medes and Persians had 
them not — had lost them — had no reported substitutes. 
The seven-day week was dead. Seventh-day Sabbatism 
was dead. The elder glory had disappeared in a vast 
eclipse. 

Thinkers opposed to supernaturalism — rejectors of a 
special divine revelation — trace the ancient historic Sab- 
bath to human invention, suggested by lunar changes. 
The theory is visionary, hypothetical, unphilosophical. 
But it's the very best these high sceptical scholars give us. 
They do not name the inventor; or suggest when he lived; 
or where; or tell how he accomplished the mighty work — 
invented and gave currency to a natural and universal law. 
They allow themselves to be easily satisfied. But their 
theory has one grace. It, in a way, lets them out of an 
insuperable difficulty. Another equal question now con- 
fronts them and us. The seven-day week among Gentile 
nations was dead ; could it be revitalized ? Seventh-day 
Sabbatism was dead; could it be given a new life? If a 
primitive man invented, a later Gentile man could recover, 
the week and its Sabbath. This would hav6 to be their 
answer. But it is as faulty as their original theory. Self 
resurrections are absurdities. Spontaneous generation is 
an exploded scientific bubble. Living forms do not rise 
out. of the realm of death. Life comes only from ante- 
cedent life. A Savior is ever from without; redemption 
from beyond ; the new creature from above. The lost 
institutions could not grow out of the Gentile world, but 
must be brought to it. They could not be of human 






SABBATISM OF GENTILE NATIONS. 59 

invention, but must be of divine Providence. The mighty 
gates of history, as they swing open before us, report the 
plan and steps of recovery. It is not human, but divine; 
not of man, but of God. Read yet on and see. 



SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

(Old Testament Period.) 



" This transitory scene 
Of murmuring stillness, busily serene, 
This solemn pause, the breathing space of man, 
The halt of toil's exhausted caravan, 
Comes sweet with music to thy wearied ear; 
Rise, with its anthem, to a holier sphere." 

—Holmes. 



The Sabbath of the Hebrew people from Moses to 
Christ, and inclusive of their times, I call the Sabbath of 
Judaism. It is the ancient world-Sabbath, the Decalogue 
Sabbath, but with human additions and corruptions. The 
day was long preserved by a race which in its history and 
providential training has no parallel. The Hebrew — the 
Jew — is the most remarkable character among the nations 
— the most persistent, imperishable, enduring. His Sab- 
batism is as remarkable. 1 

Judaism and the Sabbath descended together along the 
centuries from Moses to Isaiah, from Isaiah to Malachi, 
and from Malachi to Christ — ^a time period of over fifteen 
hundred years. The Sabbath of Judaism is proverbial in 
history. Compressed into a single national or race stream, 
it was transmitted by special divine revelation as well as 

£ " Israel has been the stem on which the faith of the human race 
has been grafted. No people has taken its destiny so seriously as 
Israel ; none has felt so vividly its joys and its sorrows as a nation ; 
none has lived more thoroughly for an idea. Israel has vanquished 

Time, and made use of all its oppressors I seemed to see before 

me the living genius of that indestructible people. Over every ruin 
it has clapped its hands ; persecuted by all men, on all men it has 
been avenged." — Etudes d'Histoire Religieuse. Quoted from Draper's 
Civil Policy of America, 210-11. 



OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD. 61 

by tradition. It lies as a bright jewel on the breast of 
Judaism — a central fact in its history — hedged in by divine 
safeguards — and renewed in purity from time to time. 
This chapter will discuss the Judaic Sabbath of the Old 
Testament period. 

Judaism is called a theocracy — a God-government, But 
was it any more a God-government, except as to special 
divine revelations then going on, than government is to- 
day ? "All government is ordained of God." And He 
rules nations now just as He did then. His providential 
interpositions in these United States are the very same as 
hi ancient Israel — but unreported by divine penmen. 

Jewish Sabbatism had its civil code. It was adminis- 
tered by the civil arm. Its enforcement was of man, as 
well as of God ; had its human as well as its divine side. 
The Jew himself interpreted and applied it; judged of its 
violation; aud enforced its penalties. All additions made 
to the Decalogue Sabbath, and all special interpretations 
of it; as prohibiting fire-kindling in a warm country like 
Arabia; as stoning a stick-gatherer to death; as shutting 
the gates of Jerusalem to keep out Tyrian traders; and as 
refusing to march and fight on Sabbath day ; all these 
were purely Jewish. 1 They belong to the Jew alone, and 
to special times in his history. They do not affect other 
times and peoples. With them we have nothing to do. 
The Jewish civil Sabbath puts no obligations upon us. 2 

Jewish, Sabbatism had also its ceremonial code, as seen in 
its society with priests, altars, and sacrifices, and their di- 
rectory rituals. The great annual festivals, some of them 

1 "The violation of this law of rest, was, as a crime of high treason 
against Jehovah, punishable with death." — The Inter. Cyc, Art. Sab- 
bath. 

2 " Those Commandments of the Old Testament, which were addressed 
to the Jews as Jews, and were founded upon this peculiar circum- 
stances and relations, passed away when the Mosaic economy was abol- 
ished." — Hodge. Systematic TheoL, 3: 321. 



62 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

called Sabbaths, were part of this ceremonial code. All 
festival Sabbaths were belongings of ceremonial Judaism. 
And Judaic ceremonials — its priesthood, altars, sacrifices, 
circumcision, festival Sabbaths, and their directory rituals 
— were but shadowy, preparative, perishable ; giving way 
at last to abiding realities. They were manifestly not for 
all time, but only for the economy— the Eon — the age — 
to which they belonged. They resounded with the din 
and bustle of preparation ; and were a temporary polity 
that was to wax old and decay. With ceremonial Judaism 
we have nothing to do. It was binding only on the peo- 
ple to whom given, and during the economy of which it 
was a part. Its day has passed. Its obligations have 
ceased. Its priests are gone ; its altars and sacrifices have 
disappeared ; so too its ceremonial Sabbaths. They are 
binding no more. 

Jewish Sabbatism had also its moral code. It was God 
appointed and God administered. The Jew was responsi- 
ble to God for its proper observance. This moral Sab- 
bath, given to the Jew as a representative of mankind, is 
broader and more enduring than his civil and ceremonial 
Sabbath. It is always placed on a par, not with civil or 
ceremonial but with moral law. 1 As in the Decalogue^ so 
throughout the entire Old Testament, the Sabbath is asso- 
ciated with natural and imperishable principles. It every- 
where ranks high; not on the low plain of mere rites and 
forms ; but far up among eternal verities. It is ever kept 
in view as the Sabbath of the Decalogue, unabridged, un- 
amended, unchanged ; not an iota added ; not a tittle taken 
away. Its divine appointment and sacred character are 
never challenged. God cared for it; watched over it; 



1U Though the threatened punishments for Sabbath-breakers never 
seem to have been carried out to the full during the times of the es- 
tablished commonwealth, in the scheme of Judaism it was placed on a 
par with the entire body of the law." — The Inter. Cycl 7 Art. Sabbath. 



OLD TESTAMENT PEPwIOD. 63 

preserved it in purity for centuries ; frequently and 
argently renewed its claims ; and his ceaseless supervision 
.s a remarkable attestation of its value. 

See his care of the day in the frequency with which he 
enjoined its keeping and forbad its desecration. 1 Early 
and late he brought it to the attention of the Jew. The 
claims of the Sabbath were persistently and urgently 
restated and enjoined ; nothing else so frequently ; nothing 
else so urgently. God watched over the day as a chief 
bulwark of the state and of religion. It ranked other in- 
stitutions. 

See again his care of the day, in pronouncing so great 
blessings on Sabbath-keepers, and so great evils against 
Sabbath- breakers. His promises are great ; his threats 
appalling. 2 There is a renewal of the splendid but awful 
scene when Israel stood between Mounts Gerizimand Ebal 
to hear the blessing pronounced upon the law-keeper, and 
the curse upon the law-breaker. The Sabbath is given 

1 The hallowing of sacred time is thus enjoined : " Verily my Sab- 
baths ye shall keep ; for it is a sign between me and you." — Ex. 
31 : 13. ".Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto 
you."— Ex. 31 : 14. " Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it."— Dent, 
5: 12. "Ye shall keep my Sabbath. "—Lev. 19: 30. "They shall 
hallow my Sabbaths."— Ez. 44 : 24. See also, Lev. 10 : 30, Ez. 44 : 24. 

2 To the Sabbath-keeper God says : " Blessed is the man that 
keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it."— Isa. 56: 2. "Thus saith 
the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath .... Even 
anto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and 
a name better than of sons and daughters." — Isa. 56 : 4-5. "If thou 
turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my 
holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honor- 
able . . . then . . . I will cause thee to ride on the high 
places of the earth."— Isa. 58 : 13-4. 

To Sabbath-breakers God says : " Every one that defileth it shall 
surely be put to death. For whosoever doeth any work therein that 
soul shall be cut off from his people."— Ex. 3i : 14. "My Sabbaths they 
greatly polluted ; then I said I would pour out my fury upon them in 
the wilderness to consume them." — Ez. 20: 13. See also 2 Chron. 
26: 21 : Lev. 31 : 31-4 ; Amos 8 : 4-6, and Neh. 13 : 15-21. 



64 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

the investments that belong to the law. Words of bless- 
ing — divine words — are spoken over Sabbath-keepers ; 
and words of malediction — divine words — against Sabbath- 
breakers. 

See yet again his care of the day in the utterances that 
tell how Sabbath profanation is an occasion of strong and 
abiding grief to Him. It is his Sabbath that he pleads 
for. He bewails its desecration. His words have the 
sound of a sob — a wail. They are a divine lamentation 
over the profanation of something very dear to Him. The 
Sabbath — my Sabbath — his gift to the Jew — his gift to all 
toil-doomed men — seems as the very apple of his eye. 1 

Now this Sabbath of the Jewish moral code is a natural 
and universal institution. It belongs to us even as to the 
Jew. The Jew was a representative man. God deals 
with us as he dealt with him. Behold him punished for 
Sabbath breaking; kept out of Canaan; returned to wil- 
derness wanderings; till a whole generation perished. 
The Mosaic record names rebellion against Jehovah as the 
crime that brought on this national calamity. But God in 
Ezekiel names Sabbath profanation as part of the crime. 
" But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wil- 
derness," he cries, " and my Sabbaths they greatly pol- 
luted ; then I said I would pour out my fury upon them 
in the wilderness to consume them." 8. And Nehemiah 
ranked Sabbath desecration as one of the mighty forces of 
evil that wrecked Jerusalem, burned down the temple, and 
sent the Jews into captivity. " What evil thing is this 
that ye do," he cries, " and profane the Sabbath ? Did 
not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this 

a Ezek. 20 : 13. 

1 Plaints of God against priests and people for profaning his Sab- 
bath : "My Sabbath have they greatly polluted."— Ez. 20: 13. 
"Hast profaned my Sabbath."— Ez. 22: 8. "Have hid their eyes 
from my Sabbath."— Ez. 22: 26. See also, Ez. 20: 16, 21, 24 and 
23: 38. 



OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD. 65 

evil upon us and upon this city ? Yet ye bring more 
wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." a In the 
removal of the Sabbath, the national fabric crumbled into 
dust. When the people forgot their sacred day they went 
into captivity. Sabbath breaking thus stands as a viola- 
tion of moral law — as treason against God — and as pun- 
ishable with the greatest calamities. 

Now behold the Jew as a Sabbath-keeper. The day 
was enclosed, as in a crypt, and committed to him for safe- 
keeping. He was faithful. He preserved it in history. 
He stood towards the Sabbath, as towards the Temple and 
the Law, not indeed without imperfection, but erect, steady, 
changeless. The Sabbatic institution was a belonging of 
all his Old Testament history. It remained as it came to 
him; perfect at Sinai; unchanged when the Old Testa- 
ment ended. In that time period of a thousand years, he 
stood in history as a keeper of the seventh-day rest, often 
profaning but always clinging to the day. 1 

God's reward for Sabbath-keeping is not earthly prefer- 
ment — not mere temporal emoluments — but better and no- 
bler types of manhood — purer and loftier character. This 
was the compensation he bestowed upon the Sabbath- 
keeping Jew. He added cubits to his moral stature ; hal- 
lowed all his powers and passions; and made him the best 
built man of his day. The religious culture of the Jew, 

a Neh. 13 : 17-18. 

1U The Jewish Church had been trained in an atmosphere of the 
most rigid exclusiveness, to preserve it from the tainted worship and 
foul morals of the heathen world. A unique discipline had achieved 
its object, and with all their faults the Jews were now the repositories 
of the finest theology and the best practical ethics the world had ever 
seen." — Eev. James Hope Moulton, M. A. Sunday School Journal, 
Jan., 1890, p. 4. 

"The peculiarity of the Hebrew civilization did not consist in the 
culture of the imagination and intellect, like that of the Greeks, or in 
the organization of government, like that of Rome — but its distin- 
guishing feature was religion"— Conybeare & Howson. Life and 
Epis. of St. Paul, 1 : 4. Also Neander. Fflanzung und Zeiiung, 91. 



66 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

working on and on for centuries, appeared in himself. Sab- 
batism was in him as a regenerating and transforming force; 
touching his life with new and celestial shapings; and 
creating around him the noblest civilization. Sabbath- 
keepers, touched by secret and invisible fingers, have the 
reward of a nobler self-hood. The Jew had. This was 
his character's coronation. Writers who talk of his nar- 
row culture misread history. He was the Puritan of hi? 
day. 1 

Only things that are divine remain as they came to 
Lis, and descend in history. The divine in the old Test- 
ament Jew remains. It is imperishable. His bequest to 
posterity is remarkable. Three great religions — Judaism- 
Mohammedanism, Christianity — have come from him. 
Our gospel is his Pentateuch and Prophets in fulfillment. 
His ten Commandments resound forever in all Christian 
churches, and are the moral rule of all Christian nations. 

llt The Jews, instead of being stationary like other Asiatics, were, 
next to the Greeks, the most progressive people of antiquity, and, 
jointly witli them, have been the starting point and main propel. ing 
agency of modern civilization. " — John Stuart Mill. Considerations 
on Rep. Gov., p. 43. London. 

" Modern civilization is in effect derived from the Jews and from 
the Greeks. To the latter it is indebted for its human and intellectual 
to the former for its divine and moral element. Of these two sources, 
we owe to the Jews, if not the more brilliant, at all events the more 
sublime and dearly acquired one." — Guizot. Med, on the Essence oj 
Christ, p. 245. 

"Take a skull of each of the different races of mankind, and, 
placing them at random on a table before an anatomist, ask him to se- 
lect that which indicates the highest mental capacity. Without know- 
ing anything of their history, from what graves they were obtained, or 
to what branches of the human family they belonged, he lays his hands 
at once on the skull of the Jew. This, take it for all in all, is the best 

on the table It is visibly superior to the skulls of those Greeks 

and Romans that in ancient, and also of those Teutonic races that in 
modern times have marched at the head of civilization, and seemed 
destined to rule the world. The star of Abraham is in the ascendant 
here.'' — Dr. Guthrie. Gems of Illus., p. 104. 



» 



OLD TESTAMENT PERIOD. 67 



is ancient history is full of the noblest forecasts. Chris- 
tianity itself, the leader for eighteen centuries in the world's 
best civilizations, traces its lineage back — not to the Greek 
— not to Greek culture — but to the Jew — to the Judaic 
Sabbath, Law, Synagogue. So God rewarded him — the 
Sabbath- keeper. He placed him on a conspicuous pinna- 
cle, as a type of the superior souls that, in every age and 
clime, give to the world its heroes and its martyrs. He has 
granted him the immortality cjf conferring upon the race 
its richest inheritances. Ancient Judaism's bequests to 
posterity — the Sabbath, the Law, the Tent of Meeting — 
are monuments more durable than the silent pyramids. 



SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

(The Dispersion.) 



" Now let us repose from our care and our sorrow, 
Let all that is anxious and sad pass away ; 
The rough cares of life lay aside till to-morrow, 
And let us he tranquil and happy to-day." 

James Edmeston. 



The Judaic Sabbath of the Old Testament had a royal 
place and history. It witnessed the coming and going of 
prophets, priests, kings ; the rise and the fall of empires 
and nations; the growth and the decay of ancient civiliza- 
tions. It survived the ruin of the State and Temple; was 
clung to in exile; and illumined the restoration. Malachi, 
the last of the prophets, died. The Old Testament ended. 
For four centuries God sent no special message to man. 
But the Sabbath sun remained brilliant in the Judean sky. 
The day was still to be mighty in history— in the era of 
political ruin — in the era of Dispersion. 

The interspace between Malachi and Christ — between 
the Old Testament aud the new — was filled with the great- 
est events of ancient history. World Empires came and 
went; the Medo-Persian disappearing; the Grecian sweep- 
ing clear across the stage; the Roman ascending to its 
zenith, and covering the civilized world. The greatest 
philosophic schools — the Platonic, Socratic, Aristotelian, 
and Stoic in Greece, the Zoroastrian in the East, and the 
Ptolemaic in Alexandria—were born and, the last alone 
excepted, died. The ocean of mind was widely stirred. 
The Greek language became the organ of civilization. 
The greatest events were struggling for birth. 

63 



THE DISPERSION. 69 

It was a special epoch in Jewish literature. There was 
a fusion of Greek and Jewish thought. Jewish men of 
letters — thinkers in their own epoch — writers in the Greek 
language — were numerous. The Apocryphal books are 
nearly all of that period. 1 The Septuagint — "the Greek 
Bible"— "the First Apostle to the Gentiles"— then ap- 
peared; opened up the Old Testament to Greek-speaking 
peoples ; gave birth to the New Testament dialect ; and 
was a forerunner of the Christianity soon to shine upon 
the world. 2 Ezekiel,- a priest, dramatized the Exodus. 
Aristobulus wrote an allegory on the Pentateuch. Theo- 
dotus versified the story of Dinah and Shechem. One 
Philo wrote an Epic on Jerusalem. Another Philo re- 
cast Jewish theology for Greek philosophers. Josephus 
and Jason of Cyrene wrote histories. And Hebrew proph- 
ets and kings were put into Grecian garb by Eupolemus, 

1 " The books termed the Apocrypha, ... were all, or nearly 
all, composed before the Christian Era." — Anthon. 31 an. of Class. 
Lit., p. 541. 

" Uncertain as may be the date of individual books, few, if any can 
be thrown further back than the commencement of the 3d century 
B. C. The latest ... is probably not later than 30 B. C."— Smith. 
New Test Hist., p. 154. 

2 " The Septuagint translation threw open to the Greek world the 
sacred books of Israel."— Lux Mundi, 84. New York, 1890. 

" This version, therefore, which rendered the scriptures of the Old 
Testament intelligible to a vast number of people, became one of the 
most considerable fruits of the Grecian conquest ... In this man- 
ner did God prepare the way for the preaching of the gospel, which 
was then approaching/' — Rollings Anc. Hist., 2 : 55. Harper Bros. 

" In Greek strategy and Greek statesmanship, Greek learning and 
Greek refinement, they were ready and brilliant disciples; even their 
artisans and workmen were sent for by distant countries. From the 
number of Judeo-Greek fragments, historical, didactic, epic, etc., (by 
Demetrius, Malchus, Eupolemus, Artapan, Aristaeus, Jason, Ezechialos, 
Philo, Theodot, etc,) which have survived, we may easily conclude 
what an immense literature must have sprung up here within a few 
centuries in the midst of the Judeo-Egyptian community." — The Inter. 
Oyc, Art. Jew r s. 



70 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

Demetrius, Aristaeus, and Cleodemus. Judaism was a 
notable factor in contributing to the spreading light and 
literature. 

The Dispersion. 

The era was distinguished for the Jewish Dispersion — 
a historic miracle — too little considered by historians. 1 The 
Dispersion — among all nations — for centuries — is a fact 
unique in the history of mankind. The Dispersed Jews 
were settlers, and yet aliens and foreigners, in all lands 
outside their own God-given Canaan; dwelling under all 

1 " The Jews of the Dispersion . . . was the general title ap- 
plied to those Jews who remained settled in foreign countries after the 
return from the Babylonian exile, and during the period of the second 
temple."— Smith's New Test. Hist, p. 145. 

" Our nation of whom the habitable world is full." — Josephtjs. 
Antiq., 14 : 7 : 2. 

"The Jews since the Babylonian Captivity had been scattered over 
all the world."— Nast. Com. Intro. § 34. 

" In the time of our Savior there was scarcely any land of the an- 
cient world, in which Jewish residents were not to be met with."— 
McClintock & Strong. Cycl> Art. Dispersed. 

"Now these Jews are already gotten into all cities, and it is hard to 
find a place in the habitable world, that hath not admitted this tribe 
of men, and is not possessed by it." — Steabo. Quoted by Joseph us. 
Antiq., 14: 7: 2. 

" There is first the ubiquity of the race : testified alike by Joseph us, 
Strabo, and Philo, and by the witness of inscriptions. They are every- 
where and everywhere in force throughout the Roman world." — Lux 
Mundi, 152. New York, 1890. 

"The holy city of Jerusalem, not merely . . . because of the 
colonies led out ... in the neighboring countries, such as Egypt, 
Phoenicia, Syria, and Coelosyria ; but also into those that are remote, 
such as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and the chief parts of Asia as far as Bithy- 
nia, and the innermost parts of Pontus ; also into the regions of Europe, 
Thessally, Bseotia, Macedonia, JEtolia, Attica, Argos, Corinth, and the 
principal parts of Peloponessus. Not only the continents and prov- 
inces are full of Jewish colonies, but the most celebrated isles also, 
Eubaea, Cypress, Crete, not to mention the countries beyond the Eu- 
phrates. All these are inhabited by Jews." — Philonis Opera, (Mongey. 
Edit.) 2: 587. 



THE DISPERSION. 71 

governments; traders and artisans in all cities. Their 
coming and going among the nations was remarkable. 
They were " scattered to the utmost parts of heaven." 
The Babylonian Captivity — perhaps the more remote cap- 
tivity of Israel — began the Dispersion. The Jew face and 
form were thenceforward familiar wherever men went on 
land or sea. They were in all the Persian Empire in 
Esther's day. Under Alexander the Great and his succes- 
sors, they wandered everywhere among the nations. All 
the cities of the Roman Empire swarmed with these child- 
! ren of Abraham. They were everywhere in Asia, Europe, 
and Africa. Their cosmopolitan character was seen at 
Pentecost of the crucifixion year. 1 Many, like Josephus, 
were granted the high privilege of Roman citizenship; and 
others, like Paul, were born into that heritage. The Dis- 
persion covered four, five, six centuries before the Advent. 
The Babylonian or Eastern Dispersion had precedence. 2 
It dated from the Captivity, and grew into great volume 

1 u And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of 
every nation under heaven." — Acts 2 : 5. These are described, Chap. 
2: 9-11, as Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopota- 
mia, Capadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egyptians, Lybians, 
Romans, Cretes, and Arabians. 

" James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." — James 1 : 1. 

2 " At Babylon where there were Jews in great numbers." — Jose- 
phus. Antiq., 15 : 2 : 2. 

" At the beginning of the Christian era, the Dispersion was divided 
into three sections, the Babylonian, the Syrian, the Egyptian. Preced- 
ence was given to the first." — Smith. New Test. Hist., 145. 

" Babylon was at that time, and for some hundreds of years after, a 
chief seat of Jewish culture." — Ditto, 636. 

" They were most strongly represented in the Eastern countries, Baby- 
lonia and Eastern Syria." — Uhlhokn. Confl. of Christ, with Heath., 
p. 83. 

" From Babylon the Jew had spread through every region of the 
East, and wherever he went he became a zealous missionary of his 
faith."— Cunningham Geike. The Life of Christ, 98. 

u Their great colonies in Babylon and Mesopotamia are another, 
headquarters of the race." — Zu~ Mundi, 152. New York, 1890. 



72 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

and importance. Babylonian Jews had prosperity and in- 
fluence, were wealthy and cultured ; and they spread 
through all Persia, and Media, and Parthia. 

The Egyptian Dispersion, with headquarters at Alexan- 
dria, occupying two of the city's five districts — governed 
by a magistrate of its own — was a million strong in 
Philo's day. Alexandrian Jews had equal civil rights 
with the Greeks ; and the highest offices and dignities 
were open to them. They had a temple and priesthood of 
their own, and one of their synagogues — the Diapleuston 
— was so vast and magnificent, that it was said of it : 
" Whosoever has not seen it has not seen the glory of 
Israel." From Alexandria, the Jews spread to the south- 
ern boundary of Ethiopia, and westward to the Lybian 
Desert. 1 

The Syrian Dispersion had its headquarters at Antioch, 
and spread through all Syria, through Asia Minor, through 
Greece and the Mediterranean Isles. Josephus thought it 

1 " In Egypt they constituted more than one-eighth of the entire 

population In Alexandria, they occupied two of its five wards 

and were scattered through the others." — Uhlhorn, Confi. of Christ 
with Heath., p. 83. 

" Before the dawn of the Christian era they had increased to a mil- 
lion," (in Alexandria .)— Farrar. Early Days of Christ, p. 162. 

" They are an eighth part (one million) of the population of Alex- 
andria.'' — Lux Mundi, 152. New York, 1890. 

"Egypt and other parts of Africa had a vast Jewish population."— 
Cunningham Geike. The Life of Christ, 98. 

" For as the Jewish nation is widely dispersed over all the habita- 
ble earth among its inhabitants, so is it very much intermingled with 
Syria by reason of its neighborhood, and had the greatest multitudes 
in Antioch." — Josephus. Wars, 7:4: 3. 

"Not less numerous were they in Antioch From there they 

spread over all of Asia Minor and found their way into Greece."— 
Uhlhorn. Confi. of Christ, with Heath., p. 83. 

" Three centuries or more before the Christian era, Judaism was al- 
ready strong enough in Egypt and Syria to claim political attention as 
an important element in society." — Huidekoper. Judaism at Borne, 
41. 



THE DISPERSION. 73 

numerically the greatest. It was powerful and flourishing 
in Christ's day. 

The Dispersion did not, perhaps, reach Rome till about 
63 B. C, when Pompey carried many Jewish captives 
thither, and colonized them beyond the Tiber. The num- 
ber grew, and in brief years was represented in the highest 
circles, among rich and titled bankers, and even hi the 
palace of the Caesars. 1 

The Dispersed mingled with all races and nations, and 
yet kept separate from them. They were solitary in so- 
ciety — isolated — a distinct race — unlike the rest of the 
world — never amalgamating with those among whom they 
lived. Association brings assimilation ; but they did not 
assimilate. Other races under similar circumstances have 
disappeared, and inevitable disappearance seemed to await 

1 " In Kome under Augustus, the Jews numbered perhaps 40,000, in 
the time of Tiberius perhaps 80,000." — Uhlhorn. Confl. of Christ, with 
Heathenism, 83. 

" The number of Jews in Eome in the post-Augustan period may be 
reckoned as over 20,000. ... So were the Jews also to be found in the 
palace of the Caesars." — Adolph Harnack. Princeton Rev., bAth year, 
p. 253. 

" Jews in Rome ; for since the campaigns of Pompey and Gabrinitis, 
they had been so numerous in the capital that they formed a great 
quarter on the other side of the river." — Geike. The Life of Christ, 
203. 

" The West was as full of Jews as the East."— Ditto, 98. 

" To persecute the Jews at Rome would not have been an easy mat- 
ter. They were sufficiently numerous to be formidable, and had over- 
awed Cicero in the zenith of his fame. Besides this the Jewish re- 
ligion was recognized, tolerated, licensed." — Early Christianity, Farrar 
p. 41. 

" Next in order is that odium of Jewish gold You know what 

a band there is of them, with what concord it acts, how much it can 
accomplish in assemblies. I will lower my voice so that only the 
judges can hear. For there are not wanting some who would incite 
them against me, and against every prominent man." — Cicero. Pi <> 
Flacco, c. 28. 



74 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

them; but they did not disappear. A subject race for 
centuries — under Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman 
masters — their nationality was never lost; their race char- 
acteristics remained unaltered. They resisted the modify- 
ing influence of every social environment. They moved 
forward over changing centuries, but changed not. 

Yet they clad themselves, with apparent ease, in the 
customs, usages, civilizations of all races of men, except 
simply as to religion. They were among all Gentile peo- 
ples religious aliens. They stood as monopolists of divine 
truth ; clung to the customs of their fathers ; would enter 
into no new religious conditions; and held all forms of 
worship, except their own, as idolatrous. Here they were 
the " Shibboleth" sh outers in history — an imperium in 
imperio. That brought them trouble. There sprang up 
along all paths of the Dispersion irritation, restriction, 
conflict. They were at times antagonized and oppressed. 
They suffered from the contradictory moods of human 
nature. Local uprisings sometimes decimated their num- 
bers. Hainan plotted their total immolation. And An- 
tiochus Epiphanes sought to extirpate both their failh and 
nationality. Yet their faith survived all misfortunes; 
their nationality outlived its enemies; and they multiplied 
in number. 

The pre-Messianic Jews — the Dispersion proper — are 
not however, to be confounded with the Jews after the 
capture and burning of Jerusalem by the Romans ; the 
former everywhere influential in society, though creating 
religious discontents ; the latter ostracised, persecuted, op- 
pressed. The Dispersed, for four centuries before Christ, 
were, with the Greeks and Romans, the chief makers of 
history. Mommsen makes Judaism the third factor in 
forming the Roman Empire. a The Dispersed now and 
then made rulers their debtors, and, in consequence, were 

ft Hist, of Rome, 5 : 14. 



THE DISPERSION. 75 

spared from exactions, and even granted exceptional priv- 
ileges. Conspicuous among rulers making them notable 
grants are Cyrus the Great, Darius, Artaxerxes, Alexander 
the Great, Antiochus the Great, Julius Caesar, Mark An- 
tony, and Augustus Caesar. 1 By special edicts they were 
granted liberty to live according to the customs of their 
fathers ; were exempted from tribute every seventh year ; 
from being taken before a magistrate on the Sabbath ; and 
even from military services because they would neither 
fight or march on Sabbath days. The very edicts that 

1 *' He (Alexander the Great,) granted the Jews, not only in Judea, 
but also in Media and Babylonia, the free enjoyment of their laws, and 
exemption from tribute during the Sabbatic year." — Smith. N, T. 
Hist., 16. 

"Antiochus (the Great) granted them a great many privileges."— 
Bollin, 2: 135. 

''Seleucus Mcator made the Jews citizens in the cities which he 
built in Asia and Syria." — Josephus. Antiq., 12 : 3:1. 

" The Jews were granted by the first Ptolemy great privileges in the 
new capita], (Alexandria) ; and these they retained to the time of the 
Roman Empire." — Raweinson. Anc. Hist., 263. 

"The privilege of the Jews had been secured to them under the Ro- 
man Empire by the generous edicts of Julius Caesar and other Emper- 
ors."— Farrar. Early Christ, 163. 

Julius Caesar granted them exemption from tribute every seventh 
year, and to live "according to the customs of their forefathers."— Jo- 
SEPHL'S. Antiq., 14 : 10 : 2:8. 

Marc Antony and Dolabella, Consuls, granted them " freedom from 
going into the army ; " and also " to use the customs of their fathers." 
Josephus. Antiq., 14: 10: 12. 

Augustus Csesar ordained, " that the Jews have liberty to make use 
of their own customs."— Josephus. Antiq., 16 : 6 : 2. 

Claudius Csesar decreed, " to permit the Jews, who are in all the 
world under us, to keep their own customs, without being hindered to 
do so." — Josephus. Antiq., 19 : 5 : 3. 

" To numbers and ubiquity, they add privilege in the shape of rights 
and immunities, begun by the policy of the successors of Alexander, 
but vigorously taken up and pushed by Rome as early as 139 B. C, 
greatly developed by Caesar, around whose pyre at Rome they wept, 
and maintained by the almost constant policy of the Empire." — Lux 
Mundi, 152. New York, 1890. 



76 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

secured these immunities are reporters of the religious fric- 
tion that followed their steps. The relief was occasional 
and temporary. It deferred but did not prevent the ca- 
tastrophe. 

The Dispersed took with them everywhere the Sab- 
bath, the Synagogue, and the Law. They built among 
all Polytheists an altar to the One God ; reared his Tent 
of Meeting beside the fanes of heathen idolatry ; and kept 
the seventh-day rest among all peoples who had lost it, 
or had never known it. 1 Paul found this trinity of Juda- 
isms— the Day, the Book, the House — in nearly all the 
cities whither he went preaching the Gospel. And James 
reports them as everywhere known and used of old. " For 

1 Jerusalem, according to the Rabbins, had 480 synagogues. Acts 
6: 9 reports synagogues of Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, 
and Asians. 

" Alexandria contained several synagogues, one of which was very 
splendid."— Philo. App. ii. 565. 

" Their synagogue (at Alexandria) the famous Diapleuston, with its 
seventy gilded chairs, and its size so vast that the signal for the 'Amens' 
of ths congregation, had to be given by a flag — was the greatest in the 
world." — Farrar. Early Christ, 162. 

"The Jews had built their synagogues in all the commercial 

cities of the Roman Empire." — Nast. Com., Gen. Intro. ^[ 34. 

"The synagogue assembled the faithful on that day within its 

precincts, in every town and hamlet, in and out of Palestine, before 
and after the exile." — The Inter. Cyc, Art. Sabbath. 

" In Leontopolis (Egypt) they had a temple of their own The 

existence of seven synagogues in Rome has been definitely estab- 
lished, and probably there were others." — Uhlhorn. Gonfl. of Christ, 
with Heath., 83. 

" Greece. . . . and Macedonia, where in the Apostle's time, we find in 
all the important cities. .. .communities with synagogues or proseu- 
chse." — McClintock & Stro>g. Cyci, Art. Dispersion. 

The Sabbath, like the Synagogue, was taken everywhere — into every 
land — into all cities. The testimony is voluminous. A single quota- 
tion is given. 

" There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, 
nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the sev- 
enth day has not come." — Josephus. Apion, 2 : 40. 



THE DISPERSION. 77 

Moses of old time," he says, " bath in every city them that 
preach him, being read in the synagogue every Sabbath 
day." a The six centuries that came and went before Christ 
spread widely among all nations the Sabbath, the Syna- 
gogue, and the Law. These Judaisms were permanently 
in Babylon six hundred years before the Christian era; 
in Egypt and in Antioch three hundred years; and in 
Rome at least sixty-three years. From those centers they 
found their way into all the cities of the world. They 
represented the only religion that then interested itself in 
man's morality. And everywhere a breath of reform 
attended them. 

Jewish peculiarities, during the Dispersion, may be 
summed up as Monotheism, Circumcision, Temple offer- 
ings and Sabbatism. Monotheism brought the Dispersed 
no reported trouble. Circumcision invited ridicule, but 
not persecution. And Temple offerings, not interfering 
with State tribute, provoked no antagonism. It was sev- 
enth-day Sabbatism, their chief distinguishing trait, that 
made their life and history troublous. They would not, 
on Sabbath days, litigate, go on a journey, march or fight 
as soldiers, or perform any kind of labor. 1 This septen- 

a Acts 15: 21. 

x It was chiefly Sabbath- keeping that brought them trouble. They 
would not fight in holy time. 1. Mace. 2: 32-8. Josephus. Antiq., 
14: 4: 2-3 and 12: 1: 1. Or they would repel but not attack 
an enemy. 1 Mace. 2: 41. Josephus. Antiq., 18: 9: 2. Wars, 
1:7:3. Jerusalem was often captured on Sabbath days, because oi 
these Jewish customs — by Antiochus Epiphanes — by Pompey — by 
Titus. Kollin, 2: 194, 275. The Inter Cyc, Art. Sabbath. 

"Nor is it lawful for us to journey, either on the Sabbath day, or on 
a festival day." — Josephus. Antiq., 13: 8: 4. 

This Sabbatism brought perpetual conflict. Edicts of relief, by 
Romans, were many. Josephus quotes a number: Ordering thai 
"no one compel the Jews to come before a judge on the Sabbath day." 
Antiq., 16 : 6: 2-4.; granting free lorn "from going into the army 
on account of the superstition they are under," Antiq. 14: 10: 13 
allowing them "tj celebrate their Sabbaths," Antiq. 14: 10: 21 



78 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

ary rest that so dominated them challenged either the 
world's recognition, or its opposition. It was confronted 
and opposed ; not by a rival day of rest or worship, as 
first day, that nowhere appears ; but by opposition to the 
institution itself. Antipathy to the Sabbatism of the 
seven-day week is everywhere ; harmony with it, or with a 
competing day, nowhere. Persian masters, Greek mas- 
terSj Roman masters reluctantly yielded their Jew 7 vassals 
a seventh of days for rest — partial exemption from trib- 
ute — exemption from military service. The day is 
challenged and opposed by all Greek and Roman writers 
of the period who discuss the subject. Between the 
two Testaments, the Sabbath, throughout all the world, 
was an institution peculiarly Jewish. Gentile nations 
had no competing institution. It differentiated the Jew 
from all other peoples. He had it; they had not. He 
kept it ; they satirized it. Sabbatic differences, not to 
be minimized, stand in history as the chief contention be- 
tween the Jew and the Gentile. 1 

The Sabbath of the Dispersion was not a sad but a 
joyous day. It did not foster a self-torturing spirit; that 

'• that the Jews may be allowed to observe their Sabbaths," Antiq. 
14 : 10 : 20 ; " that as many men and women of the Jews, as are will- 
ing so to do, may celebrate their Sabbaths," Antiq. 14 ; 10 : 23 ; and 
"that. . . .no one of them should be. hindered from keeping the Sab- 
bath-day, or be fined for so doing," Antiq. 14: 10 : 25. 

"Eights and immunities guarding their distinctive customs, such as 
their observance of the Sabbath." — Lux Mundi., 152. 

" On this account alone (their Sabbatisiu, the Romans found them- 
selves compelled to exempt the Jews from all military service." — Uycl. 
Brit., Art. Sabbath. 

ia The cessation from labor every seventh day by the Jews struck 
foreigners as something strange, and provoked their ridicule." — Bible 
Com., Art. Sabbath Forgotten. 

"At the time of the exile the Sabbath was already an institution 
peculiarly Jewish, otherwise it could not have served as a mark of 
distinction from heathenism." — W. E. Smith, LL. D., Encyc. Brit., 
Art. Sabbath. 



THE DISPERSION. 79 

came later. The corrupting traditions of the elders were 
indeed beginning to rob it of some of its divine sweet- 
ness ; but enough still remained to make it blessed among 
days. It wove a garment of glory in the loom of the 
passing years. ' To the pre-Messianic Jew, it must have 
had a sweetness that never flagged ; a beauty that never 
ceased to attract ; for at peril and sacrifice he kept up its 
weekly celebration through revolving centuries. 1 It was 
at once the romance and the tragedy of his life ; a romance 
that grew not old or faded; a tragedy that reddened many 
fields of the Orient. His Sabbath mornings and evenings 
were fringed with a shout and a song; The clay was made 
restful throughout by sacred readings and pleasing ad- 
dresses. It covered the Dispersed, "in bondage among the 
Gentiles/' with trailing garments of light. It entranced 
them with high and holy raptures as they chanted : " This 
is the day the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be 
glad therein." 

lu The Hebrews solemnize the Sabbath with mutual feasting.'' — 
Plutarch. Sympos., lib. IV. qu. 5. 

" And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the eves of 
the Sabbaths and the Sabbaths."— Judith, 8 : 6. 

" She. . . .went down into the house in which she abode in the Sab- 
bath days, and in her feast days." — Judith, 10 : 2. 

Introductory — Sabbath morning benediction — " Blessed art thou 
O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hath sanctified us by his 
laws, and hath made us partakers in his grace, and hath in his love 
and in his mercy, given us the Sabbath, as a remembrance of creation 
as the first day of holy convocations, and in memory of redemption 
irom Egypt ; for thou hast chosen us and sanctified us from all peo- 
ples, and hast given us thy holy Sabbath in love and in grace. Blessed 
art thou, Lord, who sanctifieth the Sabbath. " 

Valedictory— Sabbath-evening Prayer.-.-" Blessed art thou, O Lord 
our God, king of the universe, who divided between holy and unholy, 
between light and darkness, between Israel and the peoples, between 
the Sabbath and the six-days of creation. Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
who divideth between holy and unholy ." 



80 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

P-ROVIDENTTAL OUTCOME OF THE JUDAIC SABBATH. 

One providential mission of ancient Judaism was to 
preserve the Sabbath in history, and at last rekindle its 
fires among the nations. Six centuries before Christ, the 
Gentiles had no seven-day week or Sabbatism. They had 
dropped out of their life. They were slowly lost. They 
were to be slowly recovered. The order of nature changes 
slowly; as continents emerging from the sea; as planets to 
be the seat of life. So of social institutions and customs. 
So of the seven-day week and its Sabbatism. The Dis- 
persion, a seed sown for a future harvest, began their 
restoration. The Dispersed, to whom the institutions were 
divinely handed for safe keeping* and transmission, long 
kept them alive and renewed them in the world. They 
stand in history, between the two Testaments, as the restor- 
ers of the seven-day week and its Sabbatism. Judaism 
was the continuous stream into which the ancient institu- 
tions were gathered, and out of which the modern institu- 
tions h«ive flowed and are flowing. 

The Dispersed Jew was conspicuous as the Sabbath 
torch-light bearer. He marched across the nations and 
down the centuries with the Sabbath flag unfurled and 
held aloft. He began the mighty march at the Babylon- 
ian captivity— perhaps earlier at the captivity of Israel — 
began it from Jerusalem — began it in Babylon — began it 
in Nineveh. His moving columns occupied every city in 
the Persian Empire— in the Grecian Empire — in the 
Roman Empire. The Sabbath, always and everywhere 
was one of his essential belongings. He fought and won 
no battles of his own; planted no cities; conquered no 
territories; founded no Empires; but he built Syna- 
gogues, studied Moses, and kept the seventh-day rest, 
Uniting the energy of youth with the majesty of an 
immemorial antiquity, he kept steadily, persistently, every- 
where, at this work through four, five, six centuries. He 



PROVIDENTIAL OUTCOME. 81 

was the repairer of the breach ; the restorer of the weekly 
cycle; the renewer of the Sabbath. 

Great events move as pathfinders before humanity. 
The Dispersion, with its Sabbath flag waving in the breeze 
of every city for centuries, is one of the greatest events in 
pre-Christian history. It was at its apogee of splendor 
and influence about the time of the Advent, when the first 
Cassars were granting all Jews special protection and privi- 
leges. It had made the spectacle of the seventh day Sab- 
bath world-wide and somewhat popular. Its providential 
work was done. It had accomplished three things. 

First. The seven-day week and the seventh- day Sab- 
bath were again known to the Gentiles — not recalled by 
them — but brought to them. 1 The far-off was brought 
nigh ; and the Dispersed Jew was the providential bringer. 
On the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tiber, as well as on the 
Sacred Jordan, the seven-day week and its Sabbath were 
known. The people everywhere saw the Sabbath light of 
Judaism. Seeds of Sabbatism were scattered widely among 
the nations. 

Second. The Sabbath made converts in the way oj 
proselytes to Judaism. Samaritans, an alien and various 

1 The Jewish Sabbath is a much reported day in pre-Christian his- 
tory. Two samples out of multitudes are here given. 

Agatharchides (a Greek writer about 300 B. C.,) as quoted by Jose- 
phus (Apion 1 : 22) speaks of the " Jews . , . accustomed to rest 
every seventh day." 

Diogenes (a Greek rhetorician about 15 A. D.) not only knew but 
kept the Jewish Sabbath. Suetonious (Tiberius, 32, Bonn's trans.) says 
of him: "Diogenes, the grammarian, who used to hold public dis- 
quisitions at Khodes every Sabbath-day, once refused him (Tiberius) 
admittance upon his coming to hear him out of course, and sent him a 
message by a servant, postponing his admission until the next seventh 
day." 



82 SABBATH OF JUDAfSM. 






people, became Sabbatarians after the Jewish type. 1 And 
Judaism, in wide favor about the time of the Advent, was 
everywhere marching with the swing of conquest — was 
seeking expansion — was a vast and active propagandised. 
" Ye compass sea and land," said Jesus, " to make one 
proselyte." a Horace, about forty years before, had implied 
the same thing. 

" I'll force you, like the proselyting Jews, 
To be like us, a brother of the muse." b 

Proselytes were made : perhaps among them Naaman, 
the Syrian, Cornelius the centurion, and the eunuch of 
Queen Candace. 2 The keepers of Pentecost in crucifixion 
year, are described as " Jews and proselytes." One of the 
seven deacons, elected in the Apostolic church, was "Nico- 
las a proselyte of Antioch." And Paul and Barnabas, at 
Antioch in Pisidia, were at one time followed by "Jews 

a Matt. 22: 15. b Lib. 1, Sat. 4, lines 142-3. 

1 2. Kings, chap. 17. The Samaritans, in an official document about 
170 B. C, said: "Our forefathers, upon certain irequent plagues, and 
as following a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing 
that day which by the Jews is called the Sabbath." — Josephus. Antiq., 
12: .5: 5. 

2 " The propagandists of Judaism in the Koman Empire." — Juda- 
ism at Borne, 27. 

" The number of proselytes, gained over the world by this propa- 
ganda, was incredible.' ' — Geike. Life of Christ, 98. 

" Multitudes of early converts had been Jewish proselytes before they 
became Christian disciples." — Farrar. Life and Work of St. Paul, 
2: 120. 

" The people of Damascus . . . Yet did they distrust their own 
wives, who were almost all of them addicted to the Jewish religion." 
—Josephus. Wars, 2 : 20 : 2. 

"In various degrees, multitudes (of whom women doubtless formed a 
a considerable majority) adopted the customs and brought themselves 
into connection with the religion of the Jews." — Lux Mundi, 154. 
New York, 1890. 

"The heathen also, contemptible as the Jews seemed to them, hav- 
ing become convinced of the profound truths of the Israel itish system, 
and of the emptiness and impotence of their own religion, yielded, in 
exceptional but by no means rare cases, to the better influences of 
Judaism." — Kurtz. Ch. Hist , 54. 



PROVIDENTIAL OUTCOME. 83 

and religious proselytes." Judaism was thus becoming 
the inheritance, not of Jews only, but of many Gentile 
Converts. The conquered became, religiously, conquerors. 
The seventh-day Sabbath won victories. The Greek and 
Jew races — the one now descending from lofty pinnacles of 
greatness — the other representing a vast Dispersion — were 
widely meeting in history: and many Greeks entered the 
Synagogue as proselytes; accepted the seven-day week; 
and kept the seventh-day Sabbath. 1 The Roman and Jew 

1 " Greeks knew the Jew and his Sabbath from the sixth century 
B. C. (Clearchus 400 B. C.) reports his master Aristotle, as telling 
about a Jew from Ccelosyria who communicated to him more knowl- 
edge than he received from him. — Josephus. Apion,l: 22. Hermip- 
pus testifies that Pythagoras (540 B. C.) "transferred into his own 
philosophy" "doctrines of the Jews."— Josephus. Apion, 1: 22. 
Hecateus (300 B. C.) wrote a book about the Jews. — Josephus. Apion, 
1 : 22. Megasthenes (300 B. C.) testified that a all matters of natural 
science . . . were taught ... in Syria by those called Jews." 
Clement op Alexandria. Strom., 1 : 72. Josephus further reports 
the following Greek writers as mentioning the Jews : Theophilus, 
Aristophanes, Mnases, Zoperion, Euhemerus, Hermogenes, Menander, 
Conon, Eupolemus, and Nicolas. Onomacritus (500 B. C.) evidently 
knew about Moses and Sinai when he wrote : 

" So speaks tlie lore 
Of ancient wisdom : so the man, who sprang 
From the cradling waters, speaks ; who took 
The double tables of the law from God." 

—Quoted from Poets and Poetry of the Ancients, 88. 

Greek and Jew meeting in history, the Jew conquered — the Jew 
faith triumphed — Greek proselytes were many. 

" They also made proselytes of a great many of the Greeks perpetu- 
ally." — Josephus. Wars, 7: 3: 3. 

"Jews believed in a Supreme Being who took interest in human 
morality. Many Greeks accepted this belief." — Judaism at Borne, 384. 

" At length the Greeks became more acquainted with their Sacred 
Books, and conversions from Paganism to Judaism was not an uncom- 
mon occurrence. Synagogues, composed in great part of proselytes, 
existed in many of the Grecian cities, at the beginning of the Christian 
era." — Anthon. Man. Class. Lit., 541. 

Greek proselytes were numerous enough among early Christian con- 
verts to complain ''against the Hebrews because their widows were 
neglected in the daily ministration." — Acts 6 : 1. 



84 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

races — the civilization of the sword, and the civilization oi 
religion — the one representing soldiers and statesmen, the 
other merchants and Sabbatarians — were also widely com- 
ing together in history : and Romans, not a few, bowed 
the knee to Jehovah ; appeared in the synagogue as prose- 
lytes; and observed the Jewish Sabbath. 1 Thus the only 
era of propagandist!!, ever known to Judaism, was crowned 
with success. Proselytes were numerous. The Sabbath 
won disciples and widened its area. 

Third. The seven-day week and its Sabbatism slowly 
but steadily spread among all Gentile peoples. They did 
not invent these divine institutions; did not even seek 
their return. They were paraded before them — brought 
to them — pressed upon their acceptance. At last — here 



1 Romans had the Jews and their Sabbath at Rome from 63 B. C. ; 
and certainly knew them much earlier in history ; perhaps about a 
century earlier. Cicero, (106-43 B. C.) as quoted by Augustine, (De 
Civitate Dei 6 : 11) says: "The Jewish faith is now received over 
every land : the conquered have given laws to the conquerors." 

" To-day is the thirtieth Sabbath ; and would you be willing to op- 
press the Jews."— Horace (65—8 B. C.) Sat. 1 : 9. 

"The seventh-day held sacred by the Jew."— Ovid, (43 B. C— 18 
A. D.) De Art. Amand, i., 76. 

From the time that Jew and Roman met in history, the Jew faith 
made converts. So Seneca has already reported. Some other reports 
here follow : 

" The seventh-day which is kept holy by the Jews is also a festival 
of the Roman women." — Tibullus. (About 18 B. C.) 

Julia a (Roman) woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced 
the Jewish religion." — Josephus. Antiq., 18 : 3 : 5. 

" They (Jews at Rome) were accorded full freedom of worship, and 
were even successful in making converts," — McClintock & Strong. 
Cycl., Art. Dispersion. 

" Roman ladies thronged the synagogues of the Jews, and many a 
Roman observed the Jewish Sabbath." — Ullhorn. Confl. of Christ, 
with Heath. y 63. 

" Their views were, before the Christian era, gaining rapid foothold 
at Borne." — Judaism at Rome, 1. See also Juvenal, Sat. 14: 96-106. 



PROVIDENTIAL OUTCOME. 85 

and there — Gentile peoples began to receive them back; 
began to appreciate and use them. They were accepted as 
a more convenient arrangement of the days — by Greeks 
as better than the decade — by Romans as better than 
nundinse. The initial changes cannot be named. The 
steps of change, from the beginning to the culmination, 
cannot be traced. But enough surface facts appear to 
show the going on of a deep and wide social and moral 
revolution. The leavening process was everywhere — in 
all lands — among all peoples — in all cities. 1 The idea of 
a new epoch was in the air. Not indeed till the beginning 
of the third Christian century — not till Christianity had 
changed Sabbatism from the Seventh to the First day — 
was the great revolution to be complete. But honor to whom 
honor. It was not the Christian, it was the Jew, who 
brought back and restored to the world the seven day 
week and its Sabbatism. Out of his mighty Dispersion — 
world-wide — centuries long — the Sabbath issued to be once 
more a world institution. 

The world was divinely prepared for Christ and Chris- 
tianity. 2 A world empire — the Roman — had removed 

1 "Every synagogue was, as it were, a mission station of Monothe- 
ism."— Dr. Nast. Com. Gen. Intro., \ 34. 

" The clear, strong, deep religious faith of the Jews scattered every- 
where, and everywhere, as we know, to an extraordinary extent 
leavening society." — Lux Mundi, 149. 

" But not a lew were attracted into the shadow of the synagogue, 
and the majority of those were women." — Farrar. The Life and 
Work of St. Paul, 2 : 120. 

" In Syria and portions of Asia Minor, and perhaps even to the east- 
ward of these countries, they had, at the Christian era, largely dis- 
placed the ancient religions." — Huidekoper. Judaism in Rome, 1, 

2 " At the birth of Christ the striking spectacle presented itself, in a 
degree unknown before or since, of the world united under one 
scepter. From the Euphrates to the Atlantic; from the mouths of 
the Rhine to the slopes of the Atlas, the Roman Emperor was the sole 
lord." — Cunningham G-eike. The Life of Christ, 18. 



86 SABBATH OF JUDAISM. 

impediments from the way, and made broad highways for 
intercourse, between the nations. A world language — 
the Grecian— -had everywhere promoted and made possi- 
ble international intercourse. Partition walls between 
civilized nations were broken down, and laws and customs, 
more or less common, united East and West, North and 
South. All these prepared the way of the Lord. But 
other providential preparations were more potent. The 
Dispersion was God's mightiest factor. 1 Judaism, a re- 
ligious oasis in the world's desert, a protest against the 
impiety of the period, was the cradle of the Gospel. * It 
built in all cities the Synagogue — the Tent of Meeting. 
It preached everywhere Mosaism — the Scriptures — the 
Book, It unfurled in every atmosphere the Sabbath flag 
— the Day. These were God's chief preparative forces. 
They gave new and divine shaping to world-history. 

1 They (Jews) " had been merely chosen servants to keep the truth 
alive, that the world might at last know it, and be saved." — Ben 
Bur, 20. 

"Augustus got the fame in Eome of being the patron of the Jews, 
and in the provinces, even among the Jews themselves, of being the 
magnanimous protector of their religion. His tolerance, moreover, 
served an end which he did not contemplate. It secured the slow but 
certain conquest of the West, first by Judaism, the pioneer of a new 
and higher faith, and then by Christianity — the faith for which it had 
prepared the way." — Geike. The Life of Christ, 203. 

"Notwithstanding Cyrus allowed all the Jews in his dominions to 
return to their own land, many of them did not return. This hap- 
pened agreeable to God's purpose in permitting them to be carried 
away captive into Assyria and Babylonia ; for he intended to make 
himself known among the heathen by reason of the knowledge of his 
being and perfections, which the Jews in their dispersion would com- 
municate to them." — Dr. MacKnight. Quoted in Meth. Quar., 1885, 
p. 438. ' 

" The Dispersion of the chosen people was one of those three vast 
and world-wide events, in which the Christian cannot but seethe hand 
of God so ordering the course of history as to prepare the world for a 
revelation of his Son." — Farrar. The Life and Work of St. Paul, 
2: 116. 



PROVIDENTIAL OUTCOME. 87 

They heralded and brought in Christ and Christianity, 
They are of the Jew. Sabbatism is of the Jew. It was 
a boon that the world needed, and which Judaism restored 
fco the nations. The Jew, as God's ancient knight, walked 
the wide world four, five, six centuries to reorganize 
world Sabbatism — to usher in the new and better era. 



JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 



" Oh day ol days ! Shall hearts set free 
No minstrel rapture find tor thee ? 
Thou art the Sun of other days ; 
They shine by giving hack thy rays."— 



The Sabbath of the Gospels is the lingering Sabbath 
of Judaism under the interpretations of Jesus; his inter- 
pretations as seen in his life and teachings — as seen in 
what he did and what he said. The words and deeds ot 
Jesus give us our ideal Sabbath — the Sabbath in its latest 
divine statement. What then is the attitude of Jesus 
towards the day ? 

What He Did. 

He kept the Sabbath ; kept it inviolate; kept it first 
and last. He honored it in every way and at all times. 
His high regard for it is an underlying fact of his entire 
ministry. The sacred day, in the record of his life and 
work, is always observed, revered, sanctified. All his re- 
ported places of resort on the Sabbath were places of wor- 
ship. He began his public ministry at Nazareth by 
" entering into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as his 
custom was, and standing up to read." He passed thence 
to Capernaum, "and taught them on the Sabbath day." 
As he began, so he continued, and so he ended. From 
this Sabbath-keeping custom there is no known departure. 
He was a Sabbatarian. As God, on the seventh day, after 
creation-work was ended, so Jesus in all his earthly min- 
istry, was a Sabbatarian. He kept the day. He reinsti- 
tuted it, if not by express law, by example. His acts are 
legislative. They are authoritative. His example is a 
living, walking, talking law, whose influence is potential 
and universal. 



WHAT HE DID. 89 

He wrought miracles of healing on the Sabbath. At 
least seven of his thirty-three recorded miracles were Sab- 
bath work. He healed on Sabbath -days the man with an 
unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum, Mark 1 : 
23-6 ; Simon's wife's mother, Mark 1 : 29-31 ; the man 
with a withered hand, Matt. 12 : 9-13 ; the man born 
blind, John 9: 14; the impotent man at Bethesda's pool, 
John 5:9; the woman with a spirit of infirmity, Luke 
13 : 11-4 ; and the man with dropsy, Luke 14 : 1-4. 

Inspect these seven Sabbatic miracles. The cases were 
not urgent; all, excepting Simon's wife's mother, being 
chronic ailments that might easily have waited for secular 
time. They were not pressed upon the Divine Healer — 
not solicited by the patients, or by friends. The people 
about him did not believe in Sabbath healings; and it was 
only in secular, never in sacred time, that they came, or 
brought friends, to be healed. The miracles were spon- 
taneous with Jesus; innovations on the usages of the 
epoch ; a surprise to patients and on-lookers ; and wrought 
with the greatest publicity. The Divine Worker, in his 
Sabbath miracles, seemed to invite attention — to court no- 
toriety — to solicit a questioning of his work. Why this 
publicity? What did Jesus mean? What did he mean 
in making Sabbatic salve out of clay to anoint blind eyes? 
What did he mean in sending a healed man to carry his 
bed through Sabbatic streets? What did he mean — to 
take in a related idea — in justifying Sabbath corn-gather- 
ing by his disciples? Let his own vords and deeds 
answer. 

He justifies Sabbath miracles out of his own epoch ; 
pointing the questioning Jews to themselves, on Sabbaths, 
pulling sheep and oxen out of ditches; and telling them, 
irresistibly, that a man, because better than a sheep or ox, 
is entitled to be healed on that day. He also justifies Sab- 
bath miracles, and corn-pulling to appease hunger, by Old 



90 JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

Testament examples, as Sabbath Temple sacrifices — Sab- 
bath circumcisions — and David appeasing hunger with 
forbidden shew-bread. This was his surface argument ; 
and it completely vanquished the questioning Jews. But 
his real meaning lies deeper and goes farther. What is it ? 

He meant to recall holy time from oppressive strictness: 
to prune it of alien growths ; to pry it out of traditional 
ruts. The Jews, as custodians of the Sabbath, had fast- 
ened upon it many human additions and corruptions. 
Jewish Sabbatism was all awry ; a caricature on the Sabbath 
of the Decalogue ; burdensome in multiplied and oppres- 
sive rites; destroying much of the blessedness and help- 
fulness of sacred rest. It would pull a sheep or an ox out 
of a ditch, but refuse healing to a paralyzed man ; circum- 
cise a child, but denounce sight-giving to a blind man ; 
offer Temple sacrifices, but anathematize the straightening 
of a crooked human arm. This Phariseeism in the Jewish 
Sabbath, Jesus struck down, not the day itself. He an- 
tagonized, not the divine original, but only the human 
counterfeit. He made human traditions, not the sacred 
seventh of time, melt, like wax, before even bodily neces- 
sities. He granted relief from formalism, not from obli- 
gation ; from misinterpretation, not from law; from 
burdensome rites, not from Sabbatic duty. 

He meant, in a word, to restate and revive the Sabbath 
of the Decalogue. His restatement sets forth works of 
necessity and mercy as suitable Sabbath -furniture, as not 
merely allowable, but of the very essence of the day. No 
real Sabbatism, according to his restatement, can exclude 
miracles of healing — deeds of humanity— acts of charity. 
Humanities are masters of the day. It admits even of 
such necessary secular acts, as bed-carrying by the healed, 
salve-making to anoint blind eyes, and corn-pulling to 
appease hunger pangs. Jesus, in all this, did not abrogate, 
but refurnished, the Sabbath. He did not strike down, 



WHAT HE SAID. 91 

but renewed, the restful Sabbath of Eden and of Sinai. 
For his restated and restored duties and privileges presup- 
pose the continuance and perpetuity of the day. He thus 
recognizes its enduring character and immutable obligation. 
Such is New Testament Sabbatism as interpreted by the 
deeds of Jesus. 

What Hf Said. 

Six of his conversations, or discourses, discuss the Sab- 
bath. They give us by direct statement, his Sabbath views 
in four great watchwords. 

A first watchword-— " The Son of man is Lord even of 
the Sabbath day " — declares his own supremacy over the 
day. Jesus, in these words, refers to himself. He advan- 
ces and asserts his own dignity and authority. He declares 
his lordship over holy time. He is lord of the Sabbath, 
because he instituted it — preserves and perpetuates it — 
keeps it in its endless on-going. This makes it a New 
Testament institution ; a living, not a dying or dead insti- 
tution ; for Jesus "is not the God of the dead but of the 
living." His lordship over the day must affirm, among 
other things, his right to decide and order what is true 
Sabbath-keeping; to say what things should and what 
should not be done; and to make any needed readjust- 
ments of the day. It is thought by some that his lordship 
over the day was advanced to set forth that he meant to 
abrogate it, or at least to relax its claims and duties. It is 
not however of the nature of lordship to abolish — to 
destroy — to relax — but to continue — to improve — and to 
rule. His lordship over the day implies therefore that it 
was not to be destroyed, but to be continued and perpetu- 
ated in his Gospel kingdom. 

A second watchword — "The Sabbath was made for 
man, and not man for the Sabbath " — sets forth holy time 
in its relations to man, positively and negative!} -■ — in the 



92 . JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

light of what it is, and in the light of what it is not. 
Man was not made for the Sabbath. This is its negative 
side. This is what it is not. Man, as to the earth, stands 
at the apex of all known creatures. All things — the 
globe itself, its revolving seasons, its mighty forces, its 
living and dead forms — were made for him, and exist for 
him, not he for them. It is so also as to the Sabbath. 
Judaism made man the slave of the Sabbath. This watch- 
word of Christ is the proclamation of his freedom. The 
Sabbath, like marriage, like the atonement, was instituted 
for man's use and welfare. It was made for man. This 
is its positive side. This is what it is — what it is for. 
The Sabbath, in its exact self, as given at Creation, as 
renewed in the Decalogue, as now restated by Jesus, 
was made for man. It was made for man somehow as 
light is made for the eyes or sound for the ear. 1 It is a 
divine bequest to him of a septenary rest-day ; a hallowed 
and blessed septenary rest-day. Like the atmosphere, the 
sunbeam, the rain-drop, it brings benedictions to high and 
low, to rich and poor, to grave and gay, to young and 
old. It was instituted for man's welfare, and meets deep 
and universal human needs. As he Sabbatizes he comes into 
the plans and purposes of God. It enriches the soul, im- 
proves the mind, and affords rest and comfort to the 
wearied body. 

As the Sabbath was made for man, it was made for the 
Gentile as well as the Jew ; and is a world-wide, a uni- 
versal, institution. As it was made for man, it was made 
for the last even as for the first man ; and is a time-long 
institution. This watchword of Jesus makes the Sabbath 
as broad as mankind, and co-extensive with the human 
period. It teaches the unity of mankind. It ranks 

1 "The Sabbath was made for man in the same high sense that the 
family was made for man — the two great and unchangeable institutions 
sacred to man from the ruins of Paradise.' ' — Dr. J. O. Peck. Sab- 
bath Essays. 






WHAT HE SAID. 93 

Sabbatism among world ideas. It is a bell that is ever 
helping to ring the death-knell of prejudice, exclusiveness, 
bigotry. World ideas were long lost. Jesus restored 
them. The Sabbath is one of his restored world ideas. 

A third watchword — " My Father worketh hitherto, 
and I work " — reminds us that divine work goes on un- 
ceasingly with God as a Sabbatarian. His Sabbath-cycle, 
his seventh-day rest, the now ot all time, is occupied by 
him in upholding and governing all things that he created 
in the beginning, and in redeeming man. This divine 
work, sending rain on the good and the evil, sunlight on 
the just and the unjust, and giving a measure of the spirit 
to all, is ever going on ; on our Sabbath as on our work- 
days; in our sacred as in our secular time. The work of 
Jesus on Jewish Sabbaths was after this divine pattern. 
It was work done for others; miracles of healing, build- 
ing up broken human forms ; doing good to the souls and 
bodies of men. This example of the Father and of 
Jesus — the Divine Workers hitherto — justifies all work 
done on the Sabbath for others — for their betterment. 
Work not for self, but for others — for their helping and 
improvement — is real Sabbatism — the Sabbatism of the 
Father — the Sabbatism of Jesus. Self-seeking work oc- 
cupies us so constantly that it tires us — makes the brow 
sweat, the loins ache, the hands and feet weary. This is 
" thy work." It is the work that is forbidden on the Sab- 
bath. Work for others is change and recreation. It is 
divine work. It is restful. " Take my yoke upon you," 
says Jesus,- — my self-sacrificing for the good of others — 
"and ye shall find rest to your souls." This work is ever 
to go on. This Sabbatism is imperishable. 

A fourth watchword — " Wherefore it is lawful to do 
well on the Sabbath day "—justifies all well-doing in 
sacred time. What wonderful words ! How broad and 



94 JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

forceful in meaning ! " It is lawful " — not merely allow- 
able as an exception, but right, as of the very nature of 
the institution — "to do well on the Sabbath day." To do 
well — no limitation or restriction is placed upon the 
utterance — is suitable Sabbath furniture. Works of 
necessity and mercy are of the very essence of Sabbath- 
keeping. Jesus, here as in the Fourth Commandment, 
lifts Sabbath-keeping from the low plain of mere 
formalities to the lofty level of the humanities. He fits 
all well-doing into the institution. He prescribes this as 
among its high duties and privileges, and so transmits the 
day on into the future. For prescription of duty and of 
privilege is not a warrant of death, but of continuance 
and of perpetuity. 

Two Added Words. 

To direct discourses on the Sabbath, six in number, 
Jesus adds a direct allusion to future Sabbatism. He had 
prevision of the future. He foresaw about forty years 
later in history, the destruction of Jerusalem, the demoli- 
tion of the Temple, the slaughter and the world-wide op- 
pression of the Jews ; and he said to his disciples of that 
period, " Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, 
neither on the Sabbath day." The Sabbath was thus 
before him as a belonging of the future. It was not to 
perish. It was to survive his earthly day, and still 
live on. 

To direct discourses on the Sabbath, six in number, 
Jesus also adds an indirect allusion to the Sabbath law. 
He is not the law destroyer, but the law fulfiller. He 
puts himself in this light in his inimitable sermon on the 
mount. He did not come to destroy, but to fulfill the law 
— the moral law — its admirable summary in the Ten 
Commandments. Of that code he is the fulfiller, not the 
destroyer. He did not abrogate or weaken it, or any part 



TWO ADDED WORDS. 95 

of it. He did not abrogate or weaken the Fourth Com- 
mandment. He did not recall it, as if worn out and 
useless; nor secularize it, as if too binding. He fulfilled 
it. He obeyed it. He restated and reinstituted it by ex- 
ample and teaching. There is no repeal, no weakening, 
but re-enthronement, transmission, perpetuity. Moral 
elements continue to exist without re-enactment. 

This is now the attitude of Jesus towards the Sabbath, 
as seen in his life and teachings, in what he did and what 
he said. The sketch is full and fair. Nothing is omitted ; 
nothing overstated. How any thinker ever held and 
taught that Jesus meant either to abrogate the Sabbath or 
relax its claims, is among things unaccountable. He no 
more abrogated or weakened the Sabbath law, than he did 
the eternal laws of right — of truth — of purity — of love. 
It, even as they, belongs to imperishable and changeless 
verities. 



The Risen Jesus and the Sabbath. 

Change of Day. 



Si Hail to the day when He by whom was given 
New life to man— he tomb asunder riven— 
Arose ! that day his Church has still confessed. 
At once Creation's and Redemption's feasts, - 
Sign of a world called forth, a world forgiven." 



Sabbatism entered the Christian Era as an element of 
strife. Two practices, giving birth to two theories, started 
in the beginning, and ran parallel in history ; one using 
the first-day of the week alone ; the other using also the 
seventh-day. Seventh-day at last dropped out; and First- 
day alone remained for Sabbatism. A momentous question 
thus confronts us. Was the day divinely changed ? Is 
there a fairly authorized ending of one series of Sabbaths? 
Is there a fairly authorized beginning of a new series of 
Sabbaths ? 

A Change of Day Possible. 

Inherent sanctity belongs equally to all time, or is 
equally absent from all time. All days, as to intrinsic ex- 
cellencies, or holy uses, are essentially alike. There is 
nothing in. any one day, in itself, to differentiate it from 
others, to make it exceptionally sacred ; to invest it with 
Sabbatism. This is self-evident. The day itself, any 
particular day of twenty-four hours, is not therefore of the 
essence of the institution. It is an accident. It is of the 
nature of mere forms. History and Philosophy alike so 
teach. An observance of the same twenty-four hour day, 
by the whole world population, is, from the nature of 
things, unattainable. It is impossible because the world 

96 



A CHANGE OF DAY POSSIBLE. 97 

turns over. Antipodal people can't observe the same holy 
time ; nor can the people of differing longitudes. The 
Sabbath in Chicago is an hour later, in San Francisco 
three hours later, than in Philadelphia. New difficulties 
arise from varying national calendars. For, while God 
builds days, months, years, and appoints the septenary 
period closing with Sabbatism, he commits to man the 
framing of calendars and the construction of chronologies. 
And so different nations, by difference in their methods of 
reckoning time, had, and have, no agreeing day. The day 
among the Jews was from sunset to sunset; among the 
Babylonians from sunrise to sunrise; and among the Ro- 
mans from midnight to midnight. A single unit of 
twenty-four hours for sacred time, to be used by all the 
nations throughout the world, is simply impossible. Sab- 
batism is therefore separable from any particular twenty- 
four hour day, even as worship is separable from temples 
and altars. 

The portion of the weekly period — a period coeval with 
man and Eden — to be kept as sacred time is settled beyond 
all controversy. It is a seventh of days — one day in seven. 
This proportion of time is of the very essence of the in- 
stitution. It is forever unchangeable, because it is suited 
to human nature as it is — meets abiding human needs. 
One day in seven is to be Sabbatic — is to be kept holy. 
But the day itself is immaterial. It is changeable and 
may be changed. It is of the nature of a by-law, alterable 
at the will of the Sabbath Maker. All that is needed to 
make any day in the weekly period Sabbatic, is that it be 
divinely appointed, and so have in it Sabbatic elements. 
God created the Sabbath ; and he alone can change the 
day. The setting apart of one day in seven for sacred 
uses — the selection and arrangement of the day — are of 
God, not of man. The original seventh-day Sabbath was 
not of man's choosing, but of God's ordering. It was the 



98 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

Maker of days who made the last day of the weekly 
period differ from others ; equipped it with holiness and 
blessing; and assigned it as the day of rest and worship. 
The seventh-day thus set up by God can by him alone 
be taken down, or changed. Sabbatism is transferable 
from it to any other day in the week — as from the seventh 
to the first — only by the Lord of the Sabbath. The 
change requires an equal authority with that appearing in 
the original institution of the day. No mere man — no 
body of men — has the right to make such a transferrence. 
The next day after the Sabbath — First day — could be in 
no just sense a world-wide day of rest and worship till 
divinely set apart as such. God — Christ — alone has this 
authority. If the day is changed it must be by his ordering. 

Great emphasis is placed by many on the want of an 
express command authorizing a change in the day. But 
in this they ask for something wholly unwarranted. The 
Old Testament, as the book of beginnings, more usually 
makes known the authoritative will of God by abrupt com- 
mand ; but the New Testament, as the book of transition 
and continuance, by example and use. A direct command 
to substitute baptism for circumcision, the Lord's Supper 
for the Passover, and the church for the synagogue, will 
be sought for in vain. No direct command can be found 
for women at the Lord's table. Christianity, in a word, 
though turning on the pivot of our Lord's resurrection, 
did not displace Judaism by direct command, or even im- 
mediately, but by growth- — growth away from the old — 
grow T th towards the new\ Indeed all the institutions and 
customs peculiar to the New Testament were gradually 
formed ; they came, not by revolution, but by evolution. 
Example and use, without the formality of a precept, 
have been thus employed to declare God's will. So the 
change of the day for Sabbatism. All that is needed is 
to show that the risen Christ substituted the first for the 



A CHANGE OF DAY PROBABLE. 99 

seventh day by example — by exclusive approval and use. 
If First day was by Him exclusively used and approved, 
as the day for religious meetings and worship, then it is to 
be accepted as the Sabbath of his institution. 

A Change of Day Probable. 

Our Lord rose from the grave on First day. Wide and 
sound scholarship so interprets the Gospel narrative; al- 
ways has so interpreted it ; so interprets it to-day. Of late, 
however, some dissent is made by Seventh-day Sabbatarians. 
They impeach First day as the Christ-resurrection day, 
and clearly because it gives a death blow to seventh -day 
Sabbatism. 

The four Evangelists, with trifling verbal differences, 
teach, in precise and careful statements, that Christ was 
crucified and buried on " preparation day," the day before 
the Jewish Sabbath, our Friday ; that he lay in the sepul- 
cher over the Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday ; and that he 
rose on the morning of the day following the morning of 
the first day of the week, our Sabbath. 1 The Gospel nar- 

1 " The day of Preparation was the day preceding the Sabbath ; that 
is Friday.— Nast's Com. on Matt. 27 : 62. 

" While there was a regular * preparation ' for the Sabbath, there is 
no mention of any * preparation ' for the festivals. It seems to be es- 
sentially connected with the Sabbath itself." — Dr. Smith 1 s New Test. 
Hist, 343. 

" And thus the Redeemer was left pale, but victorious — to sleep 
through the Sabbath."— Geike. The Life of Christ, 791. 

" 'The first day of the week/ The day which is observed by Chris- 
tians as the Sabbath. The Jews observed the seventh day of the week, 
or our Saturday. During that day our Savior was in the grave. As 
he rose on the morning of the first day, it has always been observed in 
commemoration of so great an event." — Barnes 1 Notes, Matt. 28: 1. 

"On the day of the preparation, at the third hour, He received the 
sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen ; at the 
sixth hour He was crucified ; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost ; 
and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued 

under the earth At the dawn of the Lord's day he arose from the 

dead The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion ; 

the Sabbath embraces, the burial ; the Lord's day contains the resur- 
rection." — Ignatius. Epistle to the Trallians, Longer Form.' Ante- 
Nicene Fathers, 1 : 70. 



100 



THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 



rative, as harmonized, lias no other fair] ^'possible interpre- 
tation. 1 Its testimony to the resurrection on First day — 
the point in contention — is very complete and quite harmon- 
ious. The resurrection and the visit of the women to the 
sepulcher are associated as occurring about the same time. 
Now the visit of the women, according to all four Evan- 
gelists, was at an early hour on the morning of First day. 
Matthew says, " as it began to dawn." Mark says, " Early 
in the morning .... at the rising of the sun." Luke 
says, " very early in the morning." And John says, 
" Early, when it was yet dark." This clearly locates the 
visit of the women. It was not in the evening, when the 
sun was setting and the stars beginning to appear ; when, 
in Jewish reckoning, the old day died and the new day 



l TIME OF BURIAL HAKMONIZED.— THE DAY. 

Matthew. Mark. Luke. John. 

"The day of the "It was the prep- "And laid it in a "There laid they 

preparation." — 27 : aration." — 15 : 42. sepulcher. .... And Jesus therefore, be- 

62. "And laid him in a that day was the cause of the Jews' 

sepulcher.'* — 15:46. preparation." — 15: preparation day."— 

41-2. John 19 : 42. See 

also 20 : 31. 

RELATION OF BURIAL DAY TO THE SABBATH. 

"Now the next " It was the prep- " That day was the " That the bodies 
day that followed aration, that is the preparation, and the should not remain 
the day of the prep- day before the Sab- Sabbath drew on." — on the cross on the 
aration."— 27 : 62. bath."— 15:42. 23:54. Sabbath day, for that 

Sabbath day was a 
high day."— 20 : 31. 

TIME OF WOMEN'S VISIT HARMONIZED— ITS RELATION TO THE 

SABBATH. 

" When the Sab- " They rested the 
bath was past." — 16: Sabbath day accord- 
1. ing to the Script- 

ures."— 23: 56. 

ITS RELATIONS TO FIRST DAY. 

"Very early in the " Upon the first 

morning the first day of the week week When it 

day of the week... very early in the was yet dark." — 2 
At the rising of the morning."— 24 :1. 1. 
sun."— 16:2. 

" Now when Jesus 
was rise a on the first 
day of the week." — 
16:9. 



"In the end of the 
Sabbath."— 28:1. 



"As it began to 
dawn toward the 
first day of the 
week."— 28 : 1. 



Ho record. 



The first day of 



A CHANGE OF DAY PROBABLE. 101 

was born. But it was in the morning, at the hour of 
dawn, at the time of day-break ; when apparent night was 
fleeing, and apparent day advancing. 1 All four Evangel- 
ists say so. There is no break anywhere in their testi- 
mony. Their speech is explicit, clear, plain, and cannot 
fairly be misunderstood. They set forth, beyond fair 
challenge, the time of the visit of the women — and so of 
the resurrection — as at an early hour on the morning of 
First day. All ripe scholarship so consents, and so 
teaches. 

Three of the Evangelists report the visit of the women 
— and so the time of the resurrection — in its relations to 
the Jewish -Sabbath. The fourth Evangelist, John, is si- 
lent. Luke says of the women, "They rested the Sabbath 
day, according to the commandment," and then starts their 
visit " on the first day of the week/' Mark begins their 
visit " on the first day of the week," " when the Sabbath 
was past," But Matthew's Greek text has an element of 
uncertainty. It is the only element of uncertainty in the 
whole Gospel narrative. It may be translated — and by 
some versionists is translated — " late in the Sabbath " ; 
and this, it is claimed by Seventh-day Sabbatarians, locates 
both the visit and the resurrection on the Sabbath day. 
This claim is violent and uncritical. It makes Matthew 
self-contradictory ; for, with the very next stroke of his 
pen, he begins the visit as "at dawn towards the first 
day of the week." It also makes Matthew contradict 

1 "At the early dawn of the first day of the week, our Sunday, a 
number of women started, according to the four Evangelists, for the 
sepulcher of the Lord/'— Nast's Com. Matt. 28 : 2. 

"The true-hearted women had resolved to reach the grave by sun- 
rise The grey dawn had hardly shown itself when they were 

afoot on their errand/' — Geike. The Life of Christ, 794. 

"Our Lord was crucified on a Friday and rose again on a Sunday." 
— Encycl. Brit. Art. Irenaeus. 



102 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

all the other Evangelists, who report the visit as be 
ginning after the Sabbath was past — in an early morn- 
ing hour of First day. The claim made is the dogma- 
tism of partial inquiry. It makes Scripture contradict 
Scripture — Evangelist battle with Evangelist. Sound 
criticism is obliged to translate o# in Matthew as, not 
" late in" but "after" the Salbath ; an allowable render- 
ing as shown by eminent scholars. 1 This is a sound 
canon of criticism. It makes the doubtful, not contradict, 
but harmonize with the plain. It harmonizes Matthew 
with himself, and with all the other Evangelists. When 
Matthew is so interpreted, there is entire harmony among 
all the Evangelists. The first three report the visit as 
after the Sabbath ; and then all four, without a break, 

The critics explain Matthew : 

lu The Greek expression would justify the translation after the Sab- 
bath."— Xast's Com., Matt. 28 : 1. 

"Hence by, late in the Sabbath, we are not to suppose Saturday even- 
ing to be intended . . . but far on in the Saturday night, after 
midnight, toward daybreak on Sunday." — Meyer. Com. Matt. 28 : 1. 

"It is not the accurate Jewish division of time, according to which 
the Sabbath ended at six on Saturday evening, but the ordinary 
reckoning of the day, which extends from sunrise to sunrise, and adds 
the night to the preceding day." — Langie. Com. Matt. 28: 1. 

"Verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, oipe fie aapparuv. AJ'er the 
end of the week : this is the translation given by several eminent critics ; 
and in this way the word o\pe is used by the most eminent Greek 
writers. Thucydides, lib. iv, chap. 93, rye VfJ£?K~ o\p? ?/v — the day 
was ended, Plutarch, oipe rov paaleo- x^ovov — after the times of the 
king. Philostratus, ofe ruv Tpotnov — after the Trojan war. . . . The 
transaction mentioned here evidently took place early on the morning 
of the third day after our Lord's crucifixion ; what is called our 
Sunday morning, or first day of the week." — Clarke' s Com. Matt. 28 : 1 . 

The critics report Matthew : 

" Sabbath being over, and the first day of the week beginning to 
dawn."— Campbell. 

" Being, ' early,' that is, about break of day, on the first day of the 
week, (corresponding to our Sunday)." — Cottage Bible. 

"'In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn. 1 — After the Sabbath, 
as it grew toward daylight — Howard the first day of the week.'" — 
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown. Com. Matt. 28 : 1. 



I 



A CHANGE OF DAY PROBABLE. 103 

locate it in an early morning hour " on the first day of 
the week." This is decisive and final. It is all that fair 
reason could wish or demand. It should bind our faith 
and conduct. The Christ resurrection is clearly set forth 
in the Gospels as a First day event. So all the Evangel- 
ists teach. The consensus of scholarship here approaches 
the absolute. 

But the statement in Matthew/ 1 that Christ should be 
" three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," 
and that in John b u in three days I will rear it up," seem to 
conflict with the actual time that, in the accepted theory, 
he lay in the sepulcher — some thirty-six hours. The 
difficulty is but seeming not real. 1 Time computations em- 

■Matt. 12: 40. b John 2: 19. 

ia One hour more is reckoned as a day, and one day more as a 
year." — Jerusalem Talmud.. 

u A day and night together make up an okkah, or vvxOyurpav, and 
any part of such a period is counted as a whole. " — Jerusalem Talmud. 

" The phrase is doubtless equivalent to the Greek wxQyueyav, a day 
and night of twenty-four hours. But the Hebrew form, thee days and 
three nights, was likewise used generally and indefinitely for three days 
simply ; as is obvious from I. Samuel 30 : 1, 12, and the circumstances 
there narrated." — Dr. Robinson. 

"It is of great importance to observe that the Easterns reckoned 
any part of the day of 24 hours for a whole day, and, say a thing was 
done after three or seven days, &c, if it was done on the third or 
seventh day from that last mentioned. ... So that to say a thing 
happened after three days and three nights was the same as to say, it 
happened in three days, or on the third day." — Doddridge. 

"The time of the resurrection is stated by St. Mark, as 'early on the 
first day of the week/ which began from the sunset of the evening 
before . . . The portion, however brief, of this day (according to 
Jewish reckoning) that Jesus remained in the Tomb is reckoned as 
one day, like the brief interval between his burial and Friday's sun- 
set, and thus he remained three days in the earth." — Dr. Smith's N.'T. 
Hist. p. 349. 

" First day. The portion however brief, of this day . . . that 
Jesus remained in the tomb is reckoned as one day, like the brief in- 
terval between his burial and the Friday's sunset; and thus he re- 
mained three days in the earth."— Wm. Smith, LL. D. Butler's Bible 
Work, N. T., 559. 



104 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

brace as full days beginning and ending fractional days. 
Birthday, though the birth be in one of its latest hours, is 
always counted as a day in the life-period. The day that 
money is loaned in a bank is counted as a full day in the 
note, though the money change hands at a very late 
hour. This is a wide custom among mankind. It was, 
and is, the custom in the East. It prevailed in all Bible 
times. In the Bible a fractional beginning day, or ending 
day, always counts as a full day. This is what is done in 
the case of the crucified and risen Christ. He died 
about three o'clock in the afternoon on crucifixion day, 
and was buried before the day ended. This counts as 
a day. He lay in the sepulcher all the Jewish Sabbath. 
This is the second day. He arose about day-break on 
First-day morning. This counts as the third day. This 
is the accepted theory ; and it is the clear meaning of the 
Gospel narrative. It is the only true theory. Our Lord 
certainly did not lay in the sepulcher seventy-two hours — 
three full twenty-four hour days. The Gospel narrative 
does not permit, but forbids, this idea. And contempor- 
aneous history, sacred and profane, also forbids it. Paul 
testifies that he " rose again the third day " — sometime 
during the day — while it was yet going on — before its end 
was reached. And Josephus, a contemporary of the 
Apostles, and undoubtedly repeating what was current in 
his times, says, " he appeared to them alive again the third 
day " — before the day ended — they saw him alive again 
sometime during the third day. These are proofs that 
the third day was a fractional day. They refute and set 
aside the seventy-two hour theory. They establish the 
accepted theory. The time of the entombment fixes the 
resurrection as a first-day event. Mark calls it such. He 
says, " now when Jesus was risen the first day of the 
week." This is Gospel. When he went forth from the 



A CHANGE OF DAY PROBABLE* 105 

sepulcher, the Sabbath was fully past, the first day was 
well begun. 1 

It was reserved ior the vanity and scepticism of this 
nineteenth century to challenge the Christ-resurrection as 
a first-day event. The challenge rests on insubstantial 
foundations, and has really nothing but quibbles to support 
it. If Christ did not rise on the first-dav, we have to 
explain how that particular belief has entered into 
and colored all associated History, Art, Literature, and 
has been taught by an unbroken series of writers from the 
very beginning; and how the four Gospels, the Apostles, 
and the first Christians all asserted the fact of the resur- 
rection, and always as a First-day event. We have also 
to explain how First-clay has ever since been monumental 
of the event, and how First-day worship goes clear back 
to the event, and issued out of it. First-day, as the Christ- 
resurrection day, has thus, from the first, the support of 
continuous history, and of continuous institutional testi- 
mony. This proof is most unquestionable, is not liable to 

lu He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." — I. 
Cor. 15: 4. 

"And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among 
us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first did 
not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day." — 
JOSEPHUS. Antiq. 18: 3: 3. 

"Three days" and resurrection on "third day" are equally New 
Testament phrases in describing the event. " Build it in three days," 
Matt. 26 : 61. " Buildest it in three days," Matt. 27 : 40 and Mark 15 : 29. 
" After three days I will build it again," Matt. 27 : 63. " Within three 
days I will build another," Mark 14: 58. "After three days rise 
again." Mark 8 : 31. 

The event was to end sometime during the third day. " Be raised 
again the third day." Matt. 16: 21. "The third day he shall be 
raised again," Matt. 17: 23. " The third day he shall rise again," 
Matt. 20: 19, Mark 10: 34, Luke 18: 33. "He shall rise the third 
day," Mark 9: 31. "Be raised from the dead the third day," Luke 
9: 22. "The third day I shall be perfected," Luke 13: 22. "The 
third day rise again," Luke 24 : 7. " To rise from the dead the third 
day," Luke 24: 46. These Scriptures, explaining the former, su~- 
i?est a fractional third day. 



106 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

fraud, and is not diminished but strengthened by the lapse 
of time. Nothing, I apprehend > that a man does not 
himself see or hear, can be regarded as more certain. 
Seventh-day Sabbatarians discredit their scholarship when 
they attack the resurrection of Christ as a first-day event. 1 

Nations and races of men commemorate, by monumen- 
tal shafts and institutions, great events in their history. 
Our Fourth of July is monumental of Revolutionary 
scenes and of American Independence, and our Decoration 
day, of the lives given to re-cement the Union. This in- 
stinct to plant monumental institutions has descended to 
us from our Maker. God was the first Monument builder. 
To commemorate Creation, a work worthy of himself, he 
kept and instituted the seventh-day Sabbath; and he gave 
it to man as a joyful token of his work as World-Builder. 
Creation has thus its monumental Sabbath, connecting the 
Sabbath-keeper with the Creator. 

Our Lord's resurrection was a most momentous event ; 
keystone in the mighty arch of Redemption ; supreme 

day in the history of time and man. It was reported by 

1 — 1 — — 

i " The daivn was purpling o'er the sky ; 

* * * * * * * 

When He whom stone, and seal, and guard, 

Had safely to the tomb consigned, 
Triumphant rose, and buried Death 

Deep in the grave he left behind." 

—From the Latin. 

"T 1 was on the Easter Sunday morn, 
That from the blessed skies, 
Came down the holy angels 
To see the Lord arise." 

—Mrs. Howitt. 

"For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (the Jewish 
Sabbath) ; and on the day after Saturn, which is the day of the sun, 
having appeared to His Apostles and disciples, He taught them these 
things." — Justin Martyr. First Apology, About 139 A, D. Ante- 
Nicene Fathers, 1 : 186. 

" The time of the resurrection is stated by St Mark as ' early on the 
first day of the week,' which began from the sunset of the evening be- 
fore."— Dr. Smith's N. T. Hist, 349. 

"According to all the four Evangelists, the resurrection of our Lord 
took place on the first day of the week after his crucifixion." — Encycl. 
Brit., Art. Sunday. 



A CHANGE OF DAY PROBABLE. 107 

angels ; retold by the women ; and is the loftiest Apostolic 
utterance. It is the closing story of the Gospels ; the 
central theme of the Epistles j the immovable foundation 
of Christianity. Redemption, complete in the risen Christ, 
is a greater work than Creation. 

" 'Twas great to speak the world from naught ; 
'Twas greater to redeem. " 

In the divine balances, where real values are weighed 
and ascertained, love is greater than power ; redeeming 
love greater than creating power ; self-sacrificing love, 
giving birth to a new spiritual creation, greater than om- 
nipotent power, peopling space with new worlds and ten- 
anting them with new forms of life. Shall power have 
its memorial, and love not ? Creating power its weekly 
monument, and redeeming love not ? Omnipotent power 
its Sabbatism, and self-sacrificing love not ? Love, out- 
ranking power, is even more entitled to a monument — to 
a weekly remembrancer— to Sabbatism. The glory of the 
greater demands a New Testament Sabbath, even as the 
glory of the lesser had its Old Testament Sabbath. A 
new day for Sabbatism would make the institution a roll 
call for Redemption as well as for Creation. 

Seventh-day Sabbatarians have no weekly monument of 
the Christ resurrection ; no weekly monument of Redemp- 
tion, but only of Creation ; no weekly monument of Christ 
as Redeemer, but only of Jehovah as Creator. This, in 
Jews, who reject the divine Christ and his atonement, is 
consistent ; but, in receivers of his divinity and atone- 
ment, an anomaly and absurdity. Is not Redemption 
entitled to a place in the monumental Sabbath ? It could 
not have it in the old but only in a neio day. Seventh-day 
was preoccupied. And to disciples, as the day when Christ 
lay in the sepulcher, it was, and would be, a day of gloom 
and sorrow ; while First-day, when he rose, was a day of 
thrilling and unbounded joy. As our Lord selected and 
privileged First-day ; as First-day, whose morning sun 



108 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

shone on the empty sepulcher, is the most wonderful and 
memorable day in the world's history ; it is entitled to be 
the Sabbath of Christianity. It would have been strange 
if that unparalleled event had not made First-day the day 
of days — a holy day — a joyous and blessed day to disci- 
ples — the Sabbath of the new era. 

Christianity, the greatest moral movement in history, 
began a new order of things. It was a new creation. It 
inaugurated new world ideas. It started a new epoch in 
history. It made a new era in time. It gave chronology 
a new date. Why not also the weekly calendar a new 
Sabbath ? Without this the transition would have been 
incomplete. If all old forms disappeared, and all appear- 
ing forms were new, then the old seventh day, because a 
mere form, would die in the Christ sepulcher, and the new 
First-day rise thence to life. 

Christianity, as a new religious movement, needed a 
stated day for worship, for instruction, and for the mutual 
encouragement of disciples. The day, as coming from the 
Lord of the seventh-day Sabbath, would certainly be a 
septenary day. It could not be seventh-day ; for that was 
already engaged, and would give the new movement a too 
great Judaic tinge. After seventh day, no other day in 
the weekly period would have equal claims with First day ; 
the day of our Lord's resurrection ; the day of marvels 
to the disciples. Its selection and use would, by its rous- 
ing memories, impart an inspiration to all workers in the 
new movement. 

Change of Day Beginning. 

It was not accident, but a divine purpose and arrange- 
ment, that brought Christ from the grave on First day, 
and that made after revelations of himself to the disciples 
— perhaps all of them — First day events. Ten post- 



CHANGE OF DAY BEGINNING. 109 

resurrection appearings of Christ are recorded ; six of the 
ten on First day ; five on resurrection day itself ; and one 
on next First day. Indeed all the recorded appearings of 
our risen but unascended Lord, whose dates are ascertain- 
able, were on First day ; and not one on Seventh day. 
This is very remarkable. The risen Jesus selected First 
days, never Seventh days, in revealing himself to the 
disciples. 

Study resurrection day itself— pia tuv oapparw. 1 — The 
first day of the week. At its beginning, in its early 
morning, through its noontide hours, in its afternoon, and 
in its evening, Jesus was meeting with his disciples, and 

1 Mia aappdruv— il one of the Sabbaths" — or "one (day) from the 
Sabbath " — is used eight times in the New Testament, and is always 
translated " the first day of the week." It is the first divine name for 
that day. The Jews had no names for the secular days of the week. 
They reckoned them numerically from the Sabbath. The ancient seven- 
day week was evidently created and measured by the Sabbath. Early 
Chaldeans designated the days of the week by ordinals. So too the 
Jews. Each day was counted from the Sabbath. The first Christians 
used this Jewish calendar. But counting the days from the Sabbath 
soon began to change. The secular days began to have names. First 
day was called by Justin Martyr Sunday ; fourth day, by Clement of 
Alexandria, Ermou ; and sixth day, by the same author, Aphrodites. 
Soon all the secular days had names — planetary names. I give here 
the divine name for First-day as used in the Greek Testament : 

Matt. 28 : 1. £ig piav aappdruv. First day of the week. 
Mark 16 : 2. ngol ryg piag oappdrcov. The first day of the week. 
Mark 16 : 9. npol irpurrj cappdroi' Early on the first day of the week. 
Luke 24: 1. r# de pig tuv aappdruv. On the first day of the week. 
John 20: 1. T7j de pig ruv aappdruv. On the first day of the week. 
John 20 : 10. ry pig rbv aappdruv. The first day of the week. 
Acts 20 : 7. t$ ptg tuv aappdruv. The first day of the week. 
I. Cor. 16: 2. Kara piav aappdruv. Upon the first day of the week. 

" Our Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead on the first day of 
week (ry pig cppdruv.)" — Justin Martyr. Dial, with Trypho the Jew. 



110 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

filling their hearts with peace and joy. How blessed and 
restful to Mary — to the other women at the sepulcher — 
to Peter, newly forgiven — and to the two disciples on their 
way to Enimaus. And then its surprising and tender 
evening meeting! Read John's comforting statement: 
"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the 
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples w r ere 
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in 
the midst, and said, i Peace be unto you ' . . . And ... he 
breathed on them, and said unto them, c Receive ye the 
Holy Ghost.' " What a meeting ! What a time for 
tender memories ! It was restful — blessed — hallowing — 
Sabbatic ! And mark how the Evangelist particularly 
notes that it was " the first day of the week," as if he 
would intimate the divine choice of the day for Christian 
meetings. 1 The meeting must have extended well into the 

1 lt The first Lord's day of the new creation." — Suggestive Commen- 
tary, Luke 24: 1. 

Sunday the 17th of Nisan (ipril 8th). "The first Lord's day." 
"Easter Day."— Dr. Smith's Neiv Test Hist, p. 348. 

" ' The first day of the week. 7 This. > . , means our Sunday, the Lord's 
day, the first day following the Jewish Sabbath. "~ KrLE. Com. 
John 20 : 1. 

"The first remarkable mention of the* Lord's day is combined with 
the resurrection of our Lord." — Bengel's Gnomon, on Matt. 28: 1. 

"Our Lord rested in the grave on the Jewish Sabbath before he in- 
stituted by his resurrection the new Sabbath of holy joy and active 
benevolence — the Lord's Day."— Smith. New Test. Hist., 315. 

" * In the end of the (Jewish) Sabbath.' — The Evangelist, without 
doubt, intended by the selection of this peculiar and significant expres- 
sion to bring forward the fact, that the Christian Sunday had now 
caused the Sabbath to cease." — Lange. Com., Matt. 28 : 1. 

" ' The first day of the week. 1 'All the Evangelists at the commence- 
ment of their narratives of the resurrection mention that it was the 
first day of the week." — Jacobus' Notes, John 20: 19. 

John 20: 19. "This verse, compared with verse 1, may help to 
settle the question as to the time when the Christian Sabbath com- 
mences. l They went early the first day/— this verse says ' evening of 
the same day:' this was the evening of the Christian Sabbath."— Cot- 
tage Bible, 2: 1183. 







CHANGE OF DAY BEGINNING. Ill 

night; for Luke brings to it the two disciples who ate 
their evening meal at Emmaus, six or seven miles away ; 
and it was after they arrived and reported how the Lord 
had appeared to them, that Jesus entered with his gracious 
and inspiring words. This evidently late evening meeting 
could only be called a First-day meeting by Roman not by 
Jewish reckoning. The day ' throughout, down well into 
the night, was thus an interesting opening of the new 
Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath, with Christ in the sepul- 
cher, closed the old order of things; First day, with 
Christ risen and meeting the disciples, began the new. 

The Passover Sabbath, in Jewish reckoning, was a date 
for numbering both the days and the Sabbaths up to Pen- 
tecost. It was so given by Moses. a It is so used in the 
Gospels. 1 The fiftieth day thereafter w T as Pentecost. " After 

a Lev. 23: 15-21. 

1 The phrase "eight days," in its terminal period, is equivalent to 
£ eighth day," which has a remarkable Old Testament use. Note these 
facts: Circumcision on eighth day, Lev. 17: 12; Mothers ceremon- 
ially clean on eighth day, Lev. 12:1; first born of cattle given to the 
Lord on eighth day, Ex. 22 : 3 ; high priest consecrated on eighth 
day, Lev. 9:1; leper cleansing complete on eighth day, Lev. 22 : 27 ; 
and defiled Nazarite clean on eighth day, Lev. 15 : 14, 29. Eighth day 
is thus signalized in the Mosaic economy as having special value. It 
reports the ending of trial periods ; and is a Hebraism for First-day 
from the date of the trial period. It seems to have been made promi- 
nent for some future divine purpose. Was it meant to indicate that 
First-day would yet become the completion of the weekly period, even 
the Sabbath itself? 

If the day on which Christ rose from the dead is made the Sabbath 
of a new weekly period — the beginning of a new weekly calendar — 
the first of a new series of Sabbaths — then the week in the new era 
would close with the " eighth day" — the second Sabbath be on the 
" eighth day." " After eight days " is so used by the fourth Evangelist. 
And "eighth day" appears at once, and with this meaning, in the Church 
Fathers — romemporaiies and immediate successors of the Apostles. 

"We celebrate the eighth day with joy, on which too Jesus rose from 
the dead." — Baknabas. C 15. 

" The eighth day on which our Lord sprang up."— Ignatius. Mag- 
nesiansy C. 15, longer form. 



112 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

eight days," and " after forty days," would be so many 
days after the Passover Sabbath, including it. " After 
eight days/' on crucifixion year when the Passover fell on 
the Jewish Sabbath, would be, in Jewish reckoning, the 
second First day. Scholarship is a fair unit here. For 
the small Seventh-day Sabbatarian dissent, I have never 
seen even a show of reason. " Eight days after " the Sab- 
bath of the Passover — the Sabbath in the sepulcher — 
would be the second First day. 

The disciples lingered in Jerusalem after the Passover 
week was ended, and after the following Jewish Sabbath 
was over. They strangely lingered over the second First- 
day, and, not only lingered, but held a meeting some time 
during the day. Thomas, the doubter, was present. John 
is the reporter. Pie says : u And after eight days, again 
his disciples were within, and Thomas with them ; then 
came Jesus .... and ssid, ' Peace be unto you/ Then 
saith he unto Thomas, . . . . * be not faithless but 
believing/ And Thomas . . . . said, ' My Lord and 
my God.' " This meeting, if held elsewhere than in Je- 
rusalem, is then even a more remarkable Gospel testimony 
to this First-day meeting. The risen Christ crowned (lie 
meeting with his presence and blessing. How hallowed 
the occasion ! How restful and Sabbatic to Thomas ; 
doubt gone ; peace filling his heart ! The Christ resurrec- 
tion thus started from the very beginning a new weekly 
day of meeting. On two First days — not on Seventh-days 
— the disciples assemble, and Jesus meets with them. The 
old has evidently ended ; the new begins. The Sabbath 
of the Jew has died in the sepulcher of the Savior, that 
the Sabbath of Christianity might be born with his resur- 
rection. 1 (See notes on opposite page.) 

If Jesus, the Sabbath-Maker — the Lord of the Sabbath 
— changes the day, the change is authoritative. Study the 



CHANGE OF E>AY BEGINNING. 113 

risen Jesus in his attitude so far towards Sabbatism. In 
no recorded instance did he ever meet with his disciples 
on any seventh day. He kept seventh-day before but in 
no known instance after his passion. All his recorded 
post-resurrection meetings with disciples, of ascertainable 
date, were on First-days. Ten are recorded ; six of the 
ten on First-days — five on resurrection day itself — and one 
on next First-day. Five First-days elapsed between his 
resurrection and his ascension ; and on tw r o of the five he 
is known to have met with his disciples. This now begins 

I "Jesus again appeared to them on the next Sunday, and Thomas 
was convinced." — Farrar's Early Days of Christ., p 436. 

" The second appearance of Christ, on the first Sunday after the 
resurrection day, in the midst of the disciples." — Lange. Com. John 
20 : 26. 

II After eight days. This is the first record of Christian Sabbath 
observance." — Jacobus 1 Notes. John 20: 26. 

u After eight days. It seems likely that this was precisely on that 
day se'nnightj on which Christ had appeared to them before ; and from 
this we may learn that this was the weekly meeting of the Apostles ; and 
though Thomas was not found at the former meeting, he was determin- 
ed not to be absent from this" — Clarke's Com. John 20 : 26. 

" Here we have one of the incidental notices — more valuable than 
any formal statement, because they show how regularly the custom 
was established — of those meetings of the Christians on the Lord's 
Day for social converse and divine worship, which Pliny mentions as 
their only known institution." — Dr. Smith's N. T. Hist, p. 536. 

" Eight days later the Lord appeared to his assembled disciples 
again, Thomas being present, (John 20 : 26). The Passover had lasted 
to the preceding Friday. On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the dis- 
ciples did not travel, and staid also the second Sunday at Jerusalem — 
a proof that this day had already become to them the Sabbath of the 
New Testament."— Nast's Com. Matt. 28 : 1. 

" A whole week elapsed before the next recorded appearance. On 
Sunday, known, henceforth, as 'the first day of the week,' in contrast 
to the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh ; and as especially * the Lord's 
day,' the Eleven having once more assembled. . . . Jesus, honoring 
his resurrection day, once more stood in the midst of them." — Cun- 
ningham Geike. The Life of Christ, 805. 



114 THE RISEN JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

the Scriptural proofs, that Christ fairly authorized the 
transference of Sabbatism from Seventh to First day. For 
his doings are interpreters of his mind and will. Their 
fair interpretation, so far, is that Seventh-day was divinely 
vacated, and First-day selected for meetings and worship. 
Christ thus changed the day, not by express law, but by 
example — by use — by approval. He dismissed the old ; 
he inaugurated the new. 1 There was that in the Judaic 
Sabbath, which grew old and died in the sepulcher of Je- 
sus — the day itself — and that which, surviving all time 
and change, belongs to things imperishable — the Sabbatic 
elements that passed over into First-day in the new era. 
Man, standing by the First-day Sabbath, is the exalted 
man of the ages ; retaining, by transfer, Old Testament 
Sabbatism as monumental of Creation; and using also 
New Testament Sabbatism as monumental of Redemption. 

1 " In the interim we may suppose that he enacted by word what in 
his majesty he had sanctioned by act." — Pope. Comp. of Christ, 
TheoL, 3 : 291. 



The Ascended Jesus and the Sabbath. 

The Apostolic Age. 



"O day of rest! how beautiful, how fair, 

How welcome to the weary and the old ! 
Day of the Lord ! and truce to earthly care ! 
Day of the Lord, as all our days should be.' 1 

—Longfellow. 



As the Gospels close in resurrection effulgence and 
ascension glory, Apostolic Church History opens amid a 
blaze of Pentecostal light and power. Jesus ceases to be 
visible upon the stage. The Apostles appear to guide the 
forming customs of the church. The planting of Chris- 
tianity begins. 

The social and religious habits of nations and races of 
men are not born — a new community does not grow up 
out of an old one — in a dav. Great social transformations 
require time as well as the chiseling influence of new ideas. 
From Judaism to Christianity stretched the chasm of a 
vast social and religious revolution: Judaism the bud; 
Christianity the flower and fruit : Judaism atmosphered 
in prophecy, circumcision, the passover, seventh-day rest, 
temple worship, and local ideas, all fleeing shadows; and 
Christianity atmosphered in the Gospel, baptism, the 
Lord's Supper, first-day rest, church worship, and world 
ideas, all abiding realities. The movement pivoted itself 
on the resurrection of our Lord ; the old remaining in his 
sepulcher, the new rising with him ; the old ages ending, 
the new beginning. So it started. It started off at once. 
But it was to be, and was, a growth ; advancing from germ 
to fruit. It reached a notable stage at the fall of Jerusa- 
lem. Then the Temple, with its priests and altars, its 

115 



116 THE ASCENDED JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

clouds of ever-ascending incense, its bleating and lowing 
sacrificial victims, wholly disappeared. The magnificent 
ritual of Jewish worship ceased. Jewish nationality 
ended. Mosaism fell into decay. That great catastrophe 
was the emancipation of Christianity, that had started 
with the air of a Jewish sect, and was in danger of be- 
coming tributary to Judaism. It would not now be too 
Judaistic, but its simple and pure self. 

I am now to take my stand upon the breast of this 
mighty movement, and trace its divine Sabbatism. I am 
to discuss New Testament Sabbatism, under the Apostles: 
two days from the first running along together — indeed 
running side by side still — but First-day steadily super- 
seding Seventh-day ; the Old dropping out, and the New 
coming to the front. But back of the Apostles, the con- 
spicuous workers of the hour, are two recorded special 
interventions of our ascended Lord, that still further 
report his mind and will respecting the day for Sabbatism 
in the Christian Era. These demand attention. The 
Apostles are preceptors. But Christ is still the Great 
Teacher. We listen, not yet to them, but wait for his 

voice. 

Pentecost. 

Christ, ascending, appointed a future meeting for the 
disciples: to tarry at Jerusalem — to await the promise of 
the Father — to expect an enduement of divine power. 1 
The Jewish Pentecost discloses this meeting — this Christ- 
appointed meeting — as held on that day. Now on what 
day was Pentecost in the Crucifixion year ? On what day 
of the week ? 

That the Jewish Passover, as given by Moses, was regu- 
lated by observations of the moon's phases, is open to 

1 " But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with 
power from on high.'' — Luke 24 : 49, 

" Commanded that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait 
for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me," 
—Acts 1 : 4. 



PENTECOST. 117 

doubt The Mosaic Passover Sabbath does not seem a 
movable Sabbath. The Hebrew sacred year, as arranged 
by Moses, seems always to have begun with a Seventh-day 
Sabbath. That would make the Passover Sabbath and the 
Seventh-day Sabbath always synchronize on the fifteenth 
day of the first month; and then Pentecost would always 
fall on Jewish First day. Some scholars adopt this view. 
They make every Pentecost fall on First day. 1 

But some historic evidences suggest that the later Pass- 
over Sabbath was a movable Sabbath — possibly a corrup- 
tion after the Egyptian Dispersion. 2 Pentecost, then, 
would not always fall on First day. It would only fall 

1 " The Pentecost always occurred on the first day of the Jewish 
week." — Pond. Con. on the Bible, 474. 

"This (Lev. 23: 3-39,) describes Pentecost, which was to be cele- 
brated on the first day of the week." — Craft. Sabbath for Man, 533. 

" The first day of unleavened bread was always to fall upon a Sab- 
bath ; which I think is hinted in Lev. 23 : 11. The wave sheaf was to 
be waved on the morrow after a Sabbath ; but .the wave sheaf was thus 
offered on the second day of unleavened bread ; and consequently, if 
that day was the morrow after a Sabbath, then the day preceding, or 
first day of unleavened bread, was a Sabbath. ... In the third month 
the Sabbaths will fall thus ; the fourth day a Sabbath ; and the day 
after this Sabbath was the day of Pentecost. . . . Accordingly, from 
the sixteenth of the first month to the fifth day of the third month, 
counting inclusively, are fifty days ; and the fiftieth day falls regularly 
on the morrow or day after the Sabbath."— Shuckford's Connection, 2 : 
7-8. Woodward, Philada., 1824. 

2 "Petavius seems to think "—that the Hebrews used lunar months— 
"not till after the times of Alexander the Great, when they fell under the 
government of the Syro-Macedonian kings." — Pet. Ration. Temp., 2: 
1:6. 

"It can never be proved that the Hebrews used lunar months before 
the Babylonian captivity."— Chronol Pre}, to the Reader. See also 
Scaliger. Emend. Temp., 151. 

" It is, I think, undeniable, that the Jews did admit the use of a new- 
form of computing their year some time after the captivity, which dif- 
fered in many points from this more ancient method, and which ob- 
liged them in time to make many rules for the translation of days and 
feasts." — Shuckford's Connection, 2 : 18-9. 



118 THE ASCENDED JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

on First day in the years when the Passover Sabbath syn- 
chronized with the Seventh-day Sabbath. The many 
scholars who adopt this theory, teach with great unanimity, 
that the Passover Sabbath and the Seventh day Sabbath 
synchronized in crucifixion year, and that Pentecost in 
that year fell on First day. l 

The New Testament records the entombment as cover- 
ing the Jewish Sabbath, and puts the resurrection on First 
day. This locates Pentecost beyond fair controversy on 
First day. The evidence is thus complete. Pentecost in 
crucifixion year was on Jewish First day. It was on the 
seventh First day in the new era. The Gospels so teach. 

The New Testament makes this statement : "And when 
the day of Pentecost was fully come, the disciples were all 

1 " Sunday, May 24, Day of Pentecost." — Lewin. 

" On that day (First day) it is believed, fell the day of Pentecost." — 
Cot. Bible, Acts 20 : 7. i 

" On the day of Pentecost which in that year fell on the first day of 
week." — Smith's Diet, of the Bible. Art. Lord's Day. 

"Moreover, it was when they were so assembled on the first day of 
the week that the Penl ecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit took 
place."— Dr. J. H. McIevaine. Pres. Rev., vol. 4, p. 263. 

"When the day of Pentecost had dawned. It was the first day of 
the week."— Farrar. The Life and Work of St. Paul, 2 : 89. 

" On the day of Pentecost, which in that year fell on the first day of 
the week." — McClintock & Strong. Cycl, Art. Lord's Day. 

11 On this day (the first day of the week) the Apostles were assem- 
bled, when the Holy Ghost came down so visibly upon them, to quick- 
en them for the conversion of the world." — Buck. Theo. Diet, Art. 
Sab. 

" Seven weeks were numbered from the 16th of Nisan, and the fol- 
lowing day, the 6th of Sivan, was the day of Pentecost. Since in A. 
D. 30, the 16th of Nisan fell, as we have seen, on Saturday, the 7th of 
April, the day of Pentecost fell on Sunday, May 27th." — Smith. N. 
T. Hist., 380. Note. 

"It (Pentecost) consequently occurred, in the year in which Christ 
died, on the first day of the week, or our Sunday. . . . This statement 
is sustained by the very ancient tradition of the Church that the first 
Christian Pentecost season occurred on Sunday." — Lange. Com. 
Acts 2 : 1-4. 



PENTECOST. 119 

with one accord in one place." Thus Peter, James, and 
John are already using First day for meetings and wor- 
ship. They assemble on that day "with one accord in one 
place;" and not these three pillar Apostles alone, nor 
merely the Twelve; but as many as one hundred and 
twenty disciples. This meeting for religious purposes on 
a stated day— an evidently arranged and understood day 
— a Christ- appointed day — has essential Sabbatic ele- 
ments. Christ honored the day and the assembled dis- 
ciples with a wonderful baptism of the Spirit, a mi- 
raculous gift of tongues, and the greatest one-day relig- 
ious revival known to history. 1 Thus First day — the 
day of our Lord's resurrection — was at the 1 open- 
ing of the Gospel, characterized, instead of the Sab- 
bath in the Mosaic ritual, by a Christ-appointed meeting 
of the disciples, and singular divine manifestations. These 
are remarkable First-day events. Adverse criticism can- 
not belittle them. The birth of the Christian Church, 
as well as the resurrection of Christ, crowns and honors 
the first day of the week. * And so far this is the only day 
known for meetings between the risen and now ascended 
Christ and his disciples ; no other day appears ; the Seventh 
does not. This is a farther interpretation of the mind 
and will of Christ. It is a farther authoritative change 
of the day. Seventh-day Sabbatism is dropping out of 
sight ; and First-day Sabbatism is appearing in New Tes- 
tament history. 

Pentecost seems thereafter an important annual in the 
New Testament Church. Paul, to Corinthian Christians, 
(Gentiles mainly,) writes about Pentecost as if the day was 
well-known to them. a And Luke reports Paul, at a time, 

•I. Cor. 16: 8. 

1 " With his resurrection began his formal appointment of the First 
day, and, with the Pentecost, he finally ratified it." — Pope. Com. on 
Christ, 3 : 291. 

" The Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit, seven weeks later. . . . 
cannot have failed to give an additional sacredness to the day (First 
day) in the eyes of the earliest converts." — Cycl. Brit., Art. Sunday. 



120 THE ASCENDED JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

as hastening to be at Jerusalem at Pentecost. b It was cer- 
tainly not as a Jew but as a Christian that he hasted to 
any Pentecost at Jerusalem. 1 Pentecost must have 
already become a notable Christian annual, a day for 
special Christian as well as Jewish gatherings ; a day of 
delightful Christian as well as Jewish memories. The 
Christians at Jerusalem must have had a Pentecost of 
their own. History confirms this view; An annual 
Pentecost appears among post-Apostolic Christians, and it 
evidently arose as an Apostolic institution and custom. 
Thus one First-day — Pentecost — was conspicuous as an 
annual among Apostolic men. So far, religious meetings, 
since Christ's resurrection, are not at all of the Seventh 
but wholly of First-day. 

"The Lord's Day." 

The last revelation the ascended Christ has visibly 
made of himself — perhaps the last to be made for all 
time — was made to John on the Isle of Patmos. John 

b Acts 20: 16. 

1 Lewin, Howson, Smith — special writers about Paul — think that 
his five visits to Jerusalem were each at a Pentecost. — Acts 18 : 21-2 ; 
20: 16. I. Cor. 16: 8. 

" From the latter date we can safely reckon back, through his two 
years' imprisonment at Cesarea, to the Pentecost of A. D. 58, as the 
date of his last arrival at Jerusalem." — Smith. N. T. Hist, 420. 

" The two most ancient feasts of the Church were in honor of the 
Resurrection of Christ, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit." — Wad- 
dington's Ch. Histo., 1 : 44. 

" We remember the higher and Christian meaning which he gave 
to the Jewish festival. It was no longer an Israelitish ceremony, but 
it was the Easter of the New Dispensation." — Life and Epistles of St. 
Paul, 2 : 203. 

" Nor was it only at this annual feast that they kept in memory the 
resurrection of their Lord; every Sunday likewise was a festival in 
memory of the same event ; the Church never failed to meet for com- 
mon prayer and praise on that day of the week ; and it very soon ac- 
quired the name of the Lord's day, which it has since retained." — Life 
and Epistles of St. Paul, 1 : 440. 



THE LORD'S DAY. 121 

was in the Spirit— h ry Kvpcany ?)/i£pg— "on the Lord's 
day." This Greek phrase occurs no where else in the 
New Testament, and nothing in the context explains its 
meaning here. But the familiarity with which it is used 
indicates that its meaning was well and widely known — 
needed no interpretation — would be everywhere under- 
stood. The explanation must be sought, and will be 
found, in John's own era— in patristic usage — in the 
writings of the earliest Church Fathers. 1 

It has passed into church history that the first day of 
the week is called the Lord's day. When did this usage 
begin ? How far back can it be traced ? It is of very 
ancient date. It appears, about the close of the second 

1 John's v Kvpcani] r/fiipa appears in complete form in early pa- 
tristic writings, where it always means the first day of the week— 
the Christ resurrection-day. It was current in and near the Johannic 
period. 

Kvptanijv 7/jukpav. -\ Julius Africanus, 



; 



The Lord's day. J About 220 A. D. 

KvpcaKTjv EKetvTjv tijv qfiepav. -y Clemens Alexandrinus 

This Lord's day. J fl. 180-215 A. D. 

ttj rqg- KvpiaK.rjs' yjuepa. "» Irenaeus. About 178 J 

On the Lord's day. J fl. about 160-200 A. D. 

ryv KvpLdK7]v ayiav rjfiepav. i Dionysius of Corinth. 



} 



The Lord's holy day. J About 170 A. D. 

These are very ancient uses of the Greek phrase, some of them per- 
haps within fifty years of John's time. Its meaning is fixed — stereo- 
typed — back that far. It had quite earlier currency, in defective 
form ; the adjective nvpianT] alone appearing ; the noun to be supplied. 
Scholarship with unanimity supplies ^//e/m-day. 

Kara KVpcaKrjv 6e nvplov. ^ " Teaching " 

But on the Lord's (day.) J From 100 to 140 A. D. 

nara KvpLanrjv^uvTEC.. \ -r . 

Living according to the Lord's f^bo^ 75-115 A. D. 
vday.) ) 

This takes us back to within the Johannic period, and shows the 
phrase, complete or defective, to have been current from his day. 

" Mr. Elliott, Hor. Apoc. 4 : 367, note, points out that the Peshitc 
renders ovk cgtlv Kvpianbv delirvov <j>aye~iv, I. Cor. 11 : 20. ' Not a? 
befitting the day of the Lord ye eat and drink,' which is an interesting 
proof of the early use."— Alford. Greek Test, Kev. 1 : 10. 



122 THE ASCENDED JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

century, in Julius Africanus and Clement of Alexandria. 
It appears still earlier, probably within fifty years of St. 
John's time, in Dionysius of Corinth and in Irenseus, a 
friend of Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John. 
These Church Fathers all use John's Greek phrase — 
his identical phrase — and, in their writings, it never 
means Easter, or Seventh day, or Judgment-day, but 
always First-day, The evidence here is very complete. 
Patristic usage back to within about fifty years of St. 
John's time, fixes the meaning of the Greek phrase in 
Kev. 1 : 10 as First-day — the Christ-resurrection day. 
Proofs of this go even farther back. A part of this Greek 
phrase — its essential part — appears still earlier ; in the 
" Teaching of the Twelve Apostles ; " and also in the 
wr-itings of Ignatius a contemporary of St. John. These 
very primitive Christian documents mention the Lord's 

in such groups of words as fairly suggest that the 

word " day " should fill the blank. Scholarship with 
unanimity so fills it. Despite a little room to quibble, 
historic integrity necessitates this. Thus St. John's Greek 
phrase is seen in use among his contemporaries and 
immediate successors as a name for First-day. The 
general consent of Christian antiquity and of modern 
scholarship has referred the phrase to the weekly festival 
of our Lord's resurrection — has identified it with the first 
day of the week. 

The Christ-resurrection day has now a second divine 
name. It was called at the very first fiia ruv capfiaruv— 
11 the first day of the week." It is now called t t KvpcaK?; rjutpa 
— " the Lord's day." And the day, with this new 
Scriptural name, seems to bring the Lord of the Sabbath 
very near. The day to John on Patmos was restful, 
blessed, Sabbatic. The narrative of events is suggestive 
of tender and holy First-day experiences. Christ, as at 
Pentecost, honored " the Lord's day n on Patmos, with 



AUTHORITATIVE CHANGE OF THE DAY. 123 

wonderful divine manifestations. John was u in the 
Spirit," was " caught up to heaven," and was gifted with 
wonderful celestial visions. Such was the day on Patmos. 
It was shrined in rapturous Sabbatic elements. 1 

Authoritative Change of the Day, 

The whole reported attitude of our Lord, risen and 
ascended, towards Seventh-day, and towards First-day, 
is now before the reader. His attitude towards Seventh- 
day is, as reported, that of non-use. He is never known 
to have kept Seventh-day as Sabbath ; to have appointed 
any meeting with disciples for Seventh-day ; to have 
revealed himself to disciples on any Seventh-day; or to 

1 "The KVfnanq r//iepa ... is the first day of the week, the 
Sunday, which was celebrated as the day of the resurrection of the 
Lord." — Meyer. Commentary, Rev. 1: 10. 

" On the Lord's day . . . the first day of the week ... It 
is the day of the 'Lord,' the risen and glorified Lord" — Shaff. On 
Rev., p. 33. 

u On the Lord's day, i. e., on the first day of the week, kept by the 
Christian Church as the weekly festival of the Lord's resurrection." — 
Alford. Greek Testament, 4 : 554. 

" On the Lord's day — i. e., the Christian Sabbath— the first day of the 
week; so called, because on that day our Lord arose from the dead." — 
Cot Bible, Rev. 1 : 10. 

" 1 he Lord's day. The first day of the week, observed as the Christian 
Sabbath, because on it Jesus Christ rose from the dead." — A. Clarke 
Com., Rev. 1: 10. 

"As the resurrection of Christ is the great fact, so the day of its oc- 
currence is the great day of Christianity. From the time of the 
Apostles its weekly return has been called by the name of the Lord's 
day."- Smith's. N. T. Hist,, 348. 

"The term ' Lord's day ' was used generally by the early Christians 
to denote the first day of the week. "—Moses Stuart on Rev. 1 : 10. 

"It (the Johannic vision) occurred like the Pentecost, on the first 
day of the week— ' the Lord's day;' thus setting a new honor on the 
Sabbath of the Christian dispensation "—Pond. Con. on the Bible, 
609. 

" The Lord's day— the oldest and best designation of the Christian 
Sabbath ; first used by St. John, Rev. 1 : 10."— Shaff-Herzoo. 
Encycl. of Bel. KnowL Art. Lord's day. 



124 THE ASCENDED JESUS AND THE SABBATH. 

have dispensed Pentecostal gifts to disciples on any 
Seventh-day. He was a keeper of Seventh-day as Sab- 
bath before but in no known instance after his passion. 
These are plain Scriptural facts. Seventh-day is never 
set forth in any way as used and approved by our risen 
and ascended Lord for Sabbatism. He disappoints all 
expectations of Seventh-day Sabbatarians. If disuse 
vacates, then Seventh-day is vacated by the risen and 
ascended Lord of the Sabbath ; is authoritatively set 
aside ; ceases to be Sabbatic, 

His attitude towards First-day is that of use and ap- 
proval. ^He rose from the grave on First-day. He made 
five recorded revelations of himself to disciples on the 
initial First-day in the new era ; and one of these was in 
a meeting held by disciples. He revealed himself in 
another meeting of disciples held on the second First-day. 
He appointed at his Ascension, a meeting to the disciples 
that is afterwards found to be a First-day meeting. He 
poured out upon disciples his own promised gift of the 
Spirit on that seventh First-day. ^ He, by that meeting 
of his own appointment, and by that outpouring of the 
Spirit according to his promise, began the formal planting 
of Christianity on that eventful First-day. And his last 
recorded visible showing of himself to a disciple was on a 
First-day. These also are plain Scriptural facts. First- 
day is the only day known to be used by our risen and 
ascended Lord for Sabbatism. This exclusive use of First- 
day for clear Sabbatic purposes, by the Sabbath-Maker, is 
its sufficient and authoritative institution. How can a day 
so hallowed by our risen and ascended Lord, fail of rev- 
erent observance by his disciples ? The Seventh-day 
Sabbatarian is certainly not following in the steps of the 
risen Christ. The First-day Sabbatarian is. 

Now, if anything can be vacated by disuse, and if anything 
can be instituted by example and use, then our risen and as- 



AUTHORITATIVE CHANGE OF THE DAY. 125 

cended Lord has vacated Seventh-day meetings and worship, 
and has instituted First-day meetings and worship. What 
else can be made of the fact that all revelations of himself 
to disciples, of ascertainable date, were on First-day, and 
not one on Seventh-day ? Or of the fact that all meetings 
of disciples, appointed or attended by him, and whose date is 
recorded, were on First-day, and not one on Seventh - 
day? These are plain and reported doings of our Lord. 
They are an authoritative change of the day ; not by 
abrupt command; but by use and approval. And the 
change is by competent authority. It is Jesus, the risen 
and ascended One, who, by disuse, discontinued the Old, 
and, by use and approval, instituted the New day. His 
authority is beyond question. He is the Sabbath-Maker. 
He is the Lord of the Sabbath. As risen, and then 
as ascended, he is never known as a Seventh-day, but; 
always as a First-day Sabbatarian. 1 

1 Christianity has retained the institution as belonging to divine 
worship ; but by the same authority which gave the original law has 
modified it. . . . The day of our Lord's resurrection, the first day 
of the week, became the Christian Sabbath, or the Lord's day." — Pope. 
Com. of Christ. 3 ; 290. 






SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 



"Chime on ye bells ! Again begin 
And ring tbe Sabbath morning in ; 
The laborer's week-day work is done, 

The rest begun, 
Which Christ hath for his people won." 

—From the German of F. Sachse. 



Christianity issued out of Judaism, as, later, Protestant- 
ism arose out of Romanism, and Methodism out of Angli- 
canism. Its Apostles were all graduates of the Law, the 
Synagogue, the Seventh-day Sabbath ; Jews in race, tem- 
perament, training; and some of them of a very stern 
Judaic character. As heirs to fifteen centuries of Judaic 
history and glory, they would, by prepossession, linger 
long and lovingly with Mosaism, the Synagogue, and the 
old-time Sabbath. Emerging Christian institutions were 
in peril of a too great Judaic tinge. 1 The fall of Jerusa- 
lem prevented that. The social reaction that then sent 
Judaism into long exhaustion and doom enured to Chris- 
tian separation and independence. 

Christianity made an invading and conquering march 
through Paganism ; Pagan Assyria, Pagan Egypt, Pagan 
Greece, Pagan Rome : each having its philosophy and tra- 
dition, its idolatrous sacrifices and temple worship; and 
each using, as human substitutes and corruptions of the 
ancient divine Sabbath, nundinm, or decades, with annual 
festivals. Over and through all it swept as a mighty and 

1 "It must not be forgotten that one of the most constant difficulties 
to which the early church was subjected, arose from a tendency in the 
Jewish converts, not only to retain, but to enforce some of the rites 
and observances of their own law. 1 ' — Bril. Quar. 21 : 79. 

12G 



THE APOSTLES AND TIIE FIRST DAY. 127 

resistless Gulf-Stream, scattering everywhere a new spirit- 
ual warmth, purity, and life. The old mythology was to 
go down before the on-coming Christian faith. 

To absorb and assimilate in a new religious unity the 
Jewish convert and the Gentile convert — two distinct his- 
toric personalities — social incongruents and business rivals 
i — antagonists by race and religious prejudices — this was 
the difficult and delicate problem to be solved. 1 How 
this important task was accomplished— the old displaced 
and the new brought forward by steadily unfolding steps 
— history tells. I am now to study and report the divine 
Sabbatic stream, as it flowed, under Apostolic supervision, 
through the organizing Christianity. 

The Apostles and the First Day. 

The Gospels report the use of First-day meetings, by 
the Apostles, from the very beginning. They met on the 
evening of the first day in the new era ; on next First- 
day ; and then, with one hundred and twenty disciples, in 
the early morning of seventh First-day. Thus three 
First-day meetings are recorded as held by them in the 
first seven weeks after the Christ resurrection. The cus- 
tom continued. 

The Greek phrase, fila rtiv aafifiaruv — " the first day of 
the week" — occurs eight times in the New Testament; 
six times in association with our Lord's resurrection ; and 
twice by Apostolic use. These two uses now invite atten- 
tion. 

1 The religions and the philosophies of the age were local. A 
world religion was deemed impossible. 

"It is not easy to find the Father and Creator of all existence ; and, 
when he is found, it is impossible to make him known to all." — Plato. 

"He must be void of understanding who can believe that Greeks 
and Barbarians in Asia, Europe, and Syria — all nations to the ends of 
the earth — can unite in one religious doctrine." — Celsus. 



128 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

Luke used the phrase. In reporting a meeting at Troas 
he says : " And on the first day of the week, when the 
disciples were come together to break bread, Paul preached 
unto them." a Here are Sabbatic elements : an appointed 
and understood day ; a day for the ordinance of the Eu- 
charist ; a day for preaching and social worship. The day 
had been waited for. Paul abode seven days in Troas, 
" ready to depart on the morrow," after this First day 
meeting. . His tarrying extended over Seventh-day, which 
is not mentioned as used. This First-day meeting at Troas 
has the air of a usual arrangement ; of a well and widely 
known custom ; of a stated meeting that could be waited 
for, and that brought Christians together. This is in 
proof that Sabbatism had changed its day. First-day was 
in use at Troas. Luke makes sacred, not the Seventh but 
the First day. 1 

Paul used the phrase. He thus wrote to Corinthian 
Christians : " Now concerning collections for the saints, as 
J have given orders to the churches in Galatia, so do ye. 



a Acts 20 : 7. 

1 "The whole aim of the narrative favors the reference to what is 
now known as Sunday." — McClintock & Strong. QyeL, Art. Lord's 
Day. 

"The disciples in Troas met weekly on the first day of the week for 
exhortation and the breaking of bread. 7 ' — Encycl. Brit., Art. Sunday. 

"This is a passage of the utmost importance, as showing that the 
observance was customary." — Life and Epistles of 8t. Paul, 2 : 206. 

" Is it not clear to demonstration that Paul, wishing to meet the 
Church at Troas, waited there seven days till they met; that they did 
not meet until the first day of the week ; and that, having fulfilled his 
purpose, Paul left them immediately after the Lord's day had closed ?" 
-British Quar. 21 : 79. 

"To break bread. Evidently to celebrate the Lord's Supper. . . * 
3o the Syriac understands it, ' to break the Eucharist/ i. e. the Euchar- 
istic bread.. It is probable that the Apostles and early Christians cel- 
ebrated the Lord's Supper on every Lord's day And upon 

;he first day of the week. Showing thus that this day was observed 
ts holy time." — Barnes' Notes, in loco. 



THE APOSTLES AND THE FIRST DAY. 129 

Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay 
by him in store, that there be no gatherings when I come." a 
This Apostolic prescription for contributing gifts and of- 
ferings is clearly not for one First-day only, but for all 
First days ; and not for one church only, but for many. 
It is established as a weekly custom in the churches of 
Corinth and Galatia. In those churches, therefore, First 
day was well-known, and was used for religious business — 
for sacred collection*. All this is plain. And it suggests 
that First day was occupied by religious meetings ; for sea- 
sons of worship are, in the Christian Church, the usual 
occasions for sacred gifts and offerings. 1 

a L Cor. 16:2. 

1 " A plain indication that the day was already considered as a special 
one, and one more than others fitted for the performance of a religious 
duty."— Alford. Greek N. T. 2 : 588. 

" Already the day of the week on which Christ had risen had be- 
come noted as a suitable day for distinctively Christian work, and 
Christian worship." — Ellicott. Commentary, 2: 353. 

" But no doubt it does show that to the Christian consciousness it 
was a holy day in whose consecration the appropriateness of such 
works of love was felt." — Meyer. On Corinthians, 2 : 111. 

"This weekly contribution was to be reserved for the 'Lord's day.' 
This renders it certain, by the way, that that day was already regarded 
by all Christians as a sacred day, and, as such, the proper day (as we find 
from Acts 20 : 7) for public worship."— Schaff. Paul's Epistles, 231. 

" This passage is important as the first in which there occurs a clear 
trace of a distinction put upon the first day of the week, as our Lord's 
resurrection day, yet we cannot find here any special observance of the 
day as Osiander does." — Neander. On Corinthians, 355. 

." The passage certainly implies that this day of the resurrection of our 
Lord was for the Christians a holy day, out of which all other observ- 
ances of the sort naturally developed themselves." — Lange. Com. in loco. 

" It is reasonable to think that the first day was specified as the 
proper time to make collections for the poor, because it was consecrated 
to religious duties." — Nevin. Pres. Encyc, Art. Sabbath. 

"It appears from the whole that the first day of the week, which is 
the Christian Sabbath, was the day on which their principal religious 
meetings were held in Corinth and the churches of Galatia ; and con- 
sequently in all other places where Christianity had prevailed."— 
Clarke's Theology y 170. 



130 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

Some critics, as Stanley, Meyer, and Shaflf, think the 
Greek text simply directs Christians to lay by of their 
weekly earnings, on each First-day, in their own home — 
not in the assembled church — and strictly translated such 
meaning may be made to appear. But this would have 
necessitated gatherings at the Apostle's coming, the very 
thing that he sought to prevent. The mere laying by of 
offerings, in many homes, does not fairly and fully meet 
the Apostolic requirement; and indeed nothing does short 
of an actual gift in the assembled church. Sacred gifts 
only become a reality when gathered. The Apostle desired 
the gathering to be done before his coming — to be done on 
First-days — to be done therefore in church assemblies. 
All this implies that the day was for Christians a special 
and holy day. 

The new day for worship, brought forward after the 
Christ-resurrection, now stands complete. It has two New 
Testament names. Its first divine name is /ila r&v aappdruv 
— u the first day of the week " — resurrection day — mem- 
orable — Sabbatic. Its second divine name is ij Kvpiany ir/iipa 
— " the Lord's day," — bringing celestial visions to the man 
of Patmos — elevating — restful. It is the only day named 
in which the risen Christ was accustomed to meet with his 
disciples; in which he appointed to them a meeting; and 
on which he poured upon them Pentecostal gifts. It is 
the only day named and particularized for meetings of the 
disciples; for sacred collections; and for administering 
distinctive Christian ordinances, as baptism and the Lord's 
Supper. It is the Church's birth-day. It is the most 
notable day in the New Testament — the joy day of all dis- 
ciples. If use institutes— if example teaches — then First- 
day stands out as the divinely appointed Sabbath of the 
new Christian brotherhood. The Apostles, after Christ, 
evidently recast Sabbatism in the mold of the new day. 
The institution, like a stream overleaping the bounds of an 



THE APOSTLES AND THE SEVENTH DAY. 131 

ancient and flowing into a new channel, swept out of the 
seventh into the first day. 1 Sabbatism entered the emerg- 
ing Christian era, divinely clad in the drapery of First- 
day. 

The Apostles and the Seventh Day. 

The Greek capp&Tov is used seventy times in the New 
Testament: is sixty times translated Sabbath; nine times 
week ; and one time rest. It is used fifty-one times before 
and in connection with our Lord's resurrection ; and nine- 
teen times after. Of its nineteen post-resurrection uses, 
eight are translated week, and report the day changed. 
Four out of its remaining eleven uses are wholly indiffer- 
ent to the question of change ; as a Sabbath-day's jour- 
ney;* as two statements that Moses was read on the Sab- 
bath-day ; b and as the farther statement that a rest (or 
Sabbatism) remaineth for the people of God. c This leaves 
but seven Apostolic uses and interpretations of the word to 
be considered. 

a Acts 1:12. b Acts 13 : 27 ; 15 : 21. c Heb. 4 : 9. 

ia The primitive Christians were unanimous in setting apart the 
first day of the week, as being that on which our Savior rose from the 
dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This pions custom 
was derived from the example of the Church of Jerusalem on the ex- 
press appointment of the Apostles."-- Waddington's Cli. Hist., 1 : 44. 

" This change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the 
week was made not only for a sufficient reason, but also by competent 
authority. It is a simple historical fact that Christians of the apostolic 
age ceased to observe the seventh, and did observe the first day of the 
week as the day for religious worship." Hodge. Sys. Theol, 3 : 330. 

"It may, I think, unquestionably be taken for a fact, that the first 
day of the week, i. e. the day on which our blessed Savior triumphantly 
burst the bonds of death and arose from the grave, was expressly ap- 
pointed by the Apostles themselves, during their continuance at Jerus- 
alem, for the holding of their general solemn assemblies of the Chris- 
tians for the purposes of religious worship." — Mosheim's Commentaries. 
— Murdock's trans., 1 : 149. 



132 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

Luke, mjive different places, tells of Paul and fellow- 
helpers using the seventh day. 1 They entered into syna- 
gogues on that day, and preached. Now if the New Tes- 
ment anywhere rehabilitates the old seventh day as Sab- 
bath, it must be here. Is there here then a fair warrant 
of continuance? Did Apostolic use reinstitute? Is it a 
sufficient authorization for a transferrence of the seventh- 
day Sabbath out of Judaism into Christianity ? It is not. 
Four important considerations require this negative reply. 
First : Paul and his co-laborers used the synagogue as 
well as the Seventh-day. But Apostolic use did not rein- 
stitute and continue the synagogue ; why then the Seventh 
day as Sabbath ? Second : They used Seven th-day, even 
as the synagogue, for more convenient access to the Jews ; 
not however as Jews, to promote Judaism ; but as Chris- 
tians to make Christian converts. Such use was a con- 
venience, but not a reinstitution. Third : The only named 
use they made of the day was for preaching. They are 
never known to have used it for baptism, for the eucharist, 
for any distinctive Christian ordinances. These were cel- 
ebrated on First never on Seventh-day. The day, as used 
by them, is not Christianized. Fourth : They were in- 
competent to reinstitute the old day, or to change to a new 
day. . They were themselves under marching orders. 
They were to do whatsoever Christ had commanded them. 
Christ alone is Lord of the Sabbath. He alone, not Paul, 
nor Peter, nor John, nor all of them, could continue the 

1 ''They .... went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat 
down."— Acts 13 : 14. 

" And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to 
hear the Word of God."— Acts 13:44. 

''And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side . . and 
spoke unto the women which resorted thither." — Acts 16: 13. 

" And Paul . . . three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the 

Scriptures."— Acts 17 : 2. 

"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath." — Acts 18: 4. 



THE APOSTLES AND THE SEVENTH DAY. 133 

old or change to a new day. The risen Christ never ^in- 
stituted Seventh-day worship j and he did, by use, institute 
First-day worship. So then these five Sabbatic texts re- 
port Apostolic use that did not, and could not, reinstitute 
and continue the seventh-day as Sabbath. The New Tes- 
tament gives no support whatever to seventh-day Sabba- 
tism in the Christian system. 

Two post-resurrection Sabbath texts yet remain. In one 
of the two Paul interprets the Jewish seventh day. To 
Colossian Christians, he wrote: " Let no man judge you 
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the 
new moons, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of 
things to come, but the body is of Christ." 8, 

"Sabbath days — Greek oapp&T<ov—2LTe seventh days. The 
Greek word in the New Testament, always means 
seventh day. There is no reason why it should be an ex- 
ception here. The supposition that Jewish feast days are 
meant is violent and uncritical. In the New Testament, 
feast days are never called Sabbaths, nor are Sabbaths ever 
called feast days. The Greek word translated "holy day" 
is used twenty-seven times in the New Testament, and is 
elsewhere always translated " feast-days." It should be so 
translated here, and is so translated in the Revised Version. 
The use in the text of two different words with the same 
meaning is not probable. " Sabbath days " then do not 
mean feast days ; and they do mean seventh days. Paul 
now gives two interpretations of Seventh-day in its rela- 
tions to Sabbatism. 

He first interprets Seventh-d&y as no longer Sabbatic — 
as vacated by divine Sabbatism. He distinguishes it from 
r things " — " things to come" — essences — abiding realities — 
that he declares to be of the very body of Christ. And he 
classes it with "shadows" — perishable forms — decaying 

a Col. 2 : 1.6. 



134 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

husks — that merged and disappeared in Gospel realities. 
" Sabbath-days," he says, that is Seventh-days for Sab- 
baths, " are shadows " — " shadows of things to come." 
Paul like Christ, and directed by the risen Christ's exam- 
ple, is here an innovator on Judaic Sabbatism. He faces 
and abandons all the traditions of his early life. He pro- 
claims the emancipation of Christians, not from Sabbatism, 
but from its old day. He does not abrogate or in any way 
relax Sabbatism. He could not do that. None but the 
Lord of the Sabbath could do that. But he inter- 
prets the seventh day as no longer Sabbatic. Shadows 
were gone ; all around him were abiding realities. Seventh- 
day was an exhausted and disused form ; and living forces, 
ever at work, had already replaced it with the new and 
abiding First-day. According to Paul, then, Sabbatic 
elements were no longer in the seventh -day ; they had 
been transferred. Christ himself, by use and example, 
had transferred them to the first day. The Jewish rubric, 
as to seventh -day Sabbath-keeping, was no longer binding. 1 
He, secondly, interprets the keeping of " Sabbath-days," 
that is of Seventh-days for Sabbaths, as optional. u Let 
no man judge you," from his pen, has this force and 
meaning. It grants freedom in the use of the things 
named — in the use, among other things, of Seventh-days 
for Sabbaths. But it is " shadows," not "things" — mere 
forms, not eternal verities — that are made optional. Food- 
eating, taking meat and drink, is a human need; we cannot 
live without it; but modes and times of eating and drink- 
ing are of the nature of mere forms — indifferent — optional. 
Periodic rest days, festal days, devotional days, are an 
abiding human need ; we cannot reach our best without 
them ; but the new moons, feast days, and Seventh-day 
Sabbaths of a worn out economy, were but mere forms — 

1 " Paul had quite distinctly laid down from the first days of Gentile 
Christianity, that the Jewish Sabbath was no longer binding on 
Christians."— W. E. Smith., LL. D. Encyc. Brit., Art. Sabbath. 



TRANSFER OF SABBATIC NAME. 135 

indifferent — optional. Paul here teaches the abrogation 
of the entire Jewish calendar of new moons, feast days, 
and seventh-days for Sabbatism ; not of the things ; but 
of the forms. The bondage of ceremonies had ceased. 
Divine Sabbatism was no longer in the Seventh-day. 
Still its use, because a mere form, was optional. It was 
not, and it is not, wrong to be devotional on Seventh-day. 
Thus Paul's Sabbatic word to Colossian Christians re- 
ports the ancient Sabbatic day as divinely abandoned. It- 
was entangled among the ceremonial customs of Judaism, 
and, like the whole ritual of Mosaism, had lost its divine 
significance. The day remained but a shrivelled and 
shadowy form, from which the substance had fled to take 
up its abode in First-day. The Seventh-day Sabbath, 
after our Lord's resurrection, was but the moon lingering 
in the sky after the rising of the sun, but only to pale and 
disappear in the increasing glory of the new day. 

Transfer of Sabbatic Name. 

Sabbatic elements, as thus seen, were divinely transferred 
from Seventh to First day. Was the name also trans- 
ferred ? Is First-day entitled to be called Sabbath ? Has 
this name of the day any New Testament usage and war- 
rant? It would seem clear and plain that the old divine 
name should go with the substance. It certainly should 
not remain with the mere form — the husk — the vacated 
day. If all essential Sabbatic elements belong, in the new 
era, to First-day; if First-day is made the head of the 
week, even the Sabbath itself; then it should have the 
name also. 

The Christ-resurrection day is given, in the Greek text, 
as fila t&v capparuv — literal translation, one of the Sab- 
baths — Hebraic reckoning, one (day) from the Sabbath. 
This means — it can only mean — "the first day of the 
week." Yet the Greek text has a Sabbatic basis and 



136 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

fragrance that the English translation has not. This "first 
day of the week," in the eight times that it occurs in the 
New Testament, is, in the Greek text, associated with the 
Sabbatic word, as it is not in our translation. This is 
something to be considered. These eight post-resurrection 
Scriptures, in the beginning and right along, always asso- 
ciate the old name with the new day. They, in a manner, 
put the Sabbatic name upon the day ; not fully indeed ; 
but suggestively. Perhaps even this statement does not 
exhaust the meaning of the Greek original. It would 
seem as if the Inspiring Spirit, in leading five New Test- 
ament writers — Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul — 
to use this Greek Sabbatic phrase for First-day, meant to 
shadow and suggest the ultimate transfer of the Sabbatic 
name from the seventh to the first day. 

The New Testament post-resurrection uses of the Greek 
oapp&rov — nineteen in number — have all been considered 
but one. That one now invites attention. Luke makes 
this record ; " The Gentiles besought that these words 
might be preached to them kig to ftera^v odpparov — " on 
the between Sabbath. " a Sound criticism, if no dif- 
ficulties from without were in the way, would at once 
make this " between Sabbath " mean the newly appearing 
Christian day of convocation — the week's first day — the 
Christ-resurrection day. That would recognize a transfer 
of the name as well as the substance of Sabbatism from 
the seventh to the first day. 

But scholars, because they do not find the Sabbatic 
name elsewhere in the New Testament transferred to 
First-day, nor for a long period after in Church history, 
do not accept a transfer of the name here. Hence they 
put a mistranslation of the Greek phrase in the English text, 
and hide the literal translation in the margin. This, to 
say the very best of it, is not heroic treatment. Like all 

a Acts 13 : 42. 



TRANSFER OF SABBATIC NAME. 137 

error it brings with it the entailment of vast confusion. 
Some scholars make the "between Sabbath" mean "all 
week days ; " though Sabbatism is always and essentially 
differentiated from secular or week days. Others make i^ 
mean " two weekly fast-days " then (I doubt this) sup- 
posed to be observed in the customs of the church, though 
New Testament Sabbatism never in any case means fast 
days. Others still make it mean the " next Sabbath ; " 
though that directly and flatly contradicts the Greek fiera^v 
— "between." Versionists« and commentators are alike 
in inextricable confusion. Is there any way out of it? 1 

The fall of Jerusalem — the ruin of the Temple and the 
Priesthood — dealt a staggering blow to Judaism. Over a 
million of Jews perished in the siege. The catastrophe 
entailed other calamities incomparably vaster. It 
started against the Jews new bitterness and fiercer hatreds; 
and from Rome as a center they were thereafter regarded 
as social outcasts. They were expelled from Rome under 
Tiberius, then under Claudius, and their religion put 

1 " On the next following Sabbath." — Meyer. 

"Either on the next Sabbath, or in the interval."— Smith. N. T. 
Hist., 444. 

" On the ensuing week or Sabbath."— Adam Clarke. 

" In the intermediate time, before the next Sabbath." — Barnes. 

il The next Sabbath ... or some intermediate days of meeting 
during the week." — Conybeare & Howson. Life and Epis. of St. 
Paul, 1 : 178. 

" Mean \ the next Sabbath day ' not ' the following week/ This last 
rendering would hardly suit eig- which fixes a definite meaning."— 
Alford. 

" When they departed from them, they sought from them that these 
words might be spoken to them on another Sabbath.' 7 — Syriac Version. 

" As they were going out, they entreated that these words should be 
preached to them in the course of the week, or the next Sabbath."— 
Many Ancient Versions. 

" This request may have been for preaching on those days (2nd 
and 5th) of the week, observed more or less by the church of that 
time."— Pres. Quar., 6 : 713. 



138 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

under ban. 1 Defeated peoples, whose history is written by 
their conquerers, are not only pushed to the wall, but are 
usually misrepresented — maligned — abused. That is what 
happened to the Jews. Roman writers of the period, as 
Persius, Juvenal, Appian, Martial, and Tacitus treated 
them as social outcasts. 2 They suffered odium such as 
has never fallen to the lot of any other people ; were 
slandered and put in the pillory of ridicule ; were carica- 
tured at festivals and on the stage. Their Sabbath was 
singled out for special derision; was held up to scorn; 
was assaulted with debasing sarcasms. Violent antipathy 

1 "The others of that race, (Jews,) or proselytes to their views, he 
(Tiberius) removed from the city (Rome) under the pain of perpetual 
servitude, if they did not obey." — Suetonius. Tiberius, c. 36. 

'' The Roman Senate, in A. D. 18, drove the Jews out of Rome, pro- 
hibited under severe penalties any adherence to Jewish teaching, and 
searched homes for its converts." — Judaism at Rome, 7. 

See also : Tacitus, An., 2 : 85 ; and Seneca, Epist., 108 : 22. 

u Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome." — 
Acts, 18 : 2. 

" Claudius banished from Rome all the Jews who were continually 
making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus." — Suetonius. 
Claud., c. 25. 

2 Roman writers are prejudiced reporters in all things concerning 
the conquered, oppressed, persecuted Jews. Dion Cassius started the 
historic falsity, still copied by so many scholars — that the week came 
to the Romans from the Egyptians — because his prejudice would not 
allow him to trace it to the Jews. Tacitus copies the grossest tales 
against them ; discolors and falsifies ; treats them as Gibbon does 
Christians, with little humanity. Here are two or three specimens of 
Roman spleen : 

" Thou mutterest prayers, nor dost refuse, 
The feasts and Sabbaths of the curtailed Jews." 

Persius. Sat. 5 : 184. 

"The rest of their institutions are awkward, impure, and got ground 
by their pravity. . . . The lewdest nation upon earth." — Tacitus. 
Hist, 5:5. 

" While the East was under the dominion of the Assyrians, the 
Medes and the Persians, the Jews were of all slaves the most despicable. 
. . . This most profligate nation." — Tacitus. Hist, 5 : 8. 



TRANSFER OF SABBATIC NAME. 139 

and ridicule sent the day and its name into long odium 
and decay. 1 

Now if Paul, who preached and broke bread at Troas 
on First-day, and prescribed First-day collections to the 
Churches of Corinth and Galatia, had already, in his 
brief stay at Antioch in Pisidia, organized a First-day 
meeting for the Christian ordinances and for the instruc- 
tion of disciples, then it would have been very natural for 
some Gentile converts, pleased with an address delivered 
by him on the Sabbath, to ask for its repetition 
in the First-day meeting — kg- to fie-atv oapp&rov — " on the 
between Sabbath." Judaism was evidently in favor at 
Antioch. Gentiles attending the synagogue. This may be 
the reason why First-day is here called Sabbath, and not 
elsewhere in the New Testament. And the increased 
odium soon to fall upon the Sabbath may tell why this 
name for First-day does not again appear for some time 
in church history. This is our theory. It has reasonable 
support. First-day, as seen, had appeared right along as 
the day for disciples' meetings — for prayer and preaching 
— for the Christian ordinances — as the Sabbath, therefore, 

1 The Sabbath was a popular theme of Roman satire on the stage. 
One actor would say: "How long do you desire to live." Another 
would reply : '' As long as a Jewish Sabbath shirt. " 

"They bring a camel wrapped in dark clothes upon the scene, and 
they say to one another, ' Why is this beast in mourning ?' and they 
answer, 'Those Jews observe the Sabbatical year, and, for want of 
vegetables, they have eaten all his thorns ; he now mourns the loss of 
his main support.' " — Smith. Diet. Gr. and Bom. Aniig., Art. Atel- 
lense Fabulse. 

"They bring their mimos (an actor of ludicrous and indelicate rep- 
resentations) upon their boards, with his head shaved, and one asks the 
other, ' Why is his head shaved ? ' and is answered : ' These Jews 
are Sabbath observers, and what they earn the whole week they eat up 
on the Sabbath ; and when they have no wood with which to cook, tlrey 
chop up their bedsteads and use them as fuel ; and in consequence 
they sleep on the bare floor, and when their bodies are covered with 
dust, they oint them with oil ; hence oil ;is dear, and the poor fellow 
here had to shave his head.' " — Ditto. 



140 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

of the new era. It had not indeed the name, which still 
went with the old day. It had however the substance. 
It had also in its first New Testament name a reminder of 
the old name. And it has now an actual but exceptional 
transfer of the name. This fairly explains the Greek 
text; accepts its literal translation ; and puts the old name 
upon the new day. The title of First-day to be called 
Sabbath has this New Testament usage and warrant. 

Apostolic Sabbatism Summarized. 

The New Testament story of Sabbatism is now told, 
Jesus, after his passion, was a First-day Sabbatarian. He 
rose on First-day. He met his disciples on First-days. 
He appointed to them a First-day meeting. He began 
Church planting on First-day. He revealed himself to 
John on Patmos on First-day. He thus stands of record 
as a First-day Sabbatarian. And, after his resurrection, 
he is never of record as a Seventh-day Sabbatarian. He 
is never recorded as meeting his disciples on Seventh-day ; 
or as appointing to meet them on Seventh-day ; or as, in 
any way, using Seventh-day. The old day is not once 
named— lies neglected — dying in silence and disuse. Thus 
the risen Sabbath-Maker authoritatively set aside Seventh- 
day ; displaced it by disuse ; abrogated it by disapproval. 
He translated and transferred Sabbatism. He moved it 
out of Seventh into'First-day. He authorized, in the new 
era, a Sabbath that is monumental of his empty grave. 
First-day, not Seventh, has the seal of his high authority. 
It is the only known Sabbath of Jesus risen. 

The New Testament Church, in the beginning, was ex- 
clusively Judaic, embracing but Jews and Jewish prose- 
lytes. The Jew Christian, earliest convert and worker, 
began with two Sabbaths; retained the old Seventh-day; 
and used the new First-day. This is the usual statement; 
mid, in a sense, it is historically correct. Yet it does not 



, 



APOSTOLIC SABBATISM SUMMARIZED. 141 



appear that the Apostles ever used Seventh- day for Chris- 
tian worship. 1 They are five times recorded as using the 
day ; but only for preaching ; never for anything else. 
They are never recorded as using it for any distinctive 
Christian ordinances ; for baptism ; for the Lord's Supper. 
The day, though used, was not Christianized. And it was 
a Jew Christian who classed it with mere forms, and re- 
ported it as vacated by Sabbatism. To the Jew, the 
Christian Sabbath, from the beginning, was First-day. It 
was a Christianized Jew who on First-days met and com- 
muned with our risen Lord ; who, on Pentecostal First- 
day, prayed, preached, and baptized ; who on First day 
preached and broke bread at Troas ; who on First-day had 
celestial visions on Patmos ; and who directed Christians 
at Corinth and throughout Galatia to make First-day col- 
lections. His rejection of Seventh and use of First-day 
for Sabbatic purposes is a wide and strong New Testament 
fact. Apostolic precept and example sanction the change 
of day. First-day was dedicated as holy time in Apostolic 
customs and practice. 

The Gentile Christian, a later convert and worker, has 
but little prominence in New Testament history. There 
are, here and there, but the merest glimpses of his Sab- 
batism. He nowhere appears as a keeper of Seventh -day. 
Christian churches in Gentile lands are never connected 
with Seventh but only with First-day worship. The Seven 
Churches of Asia are connected with a notice of the Lord's 

1 " There is no trace whatever in Scripture of Christians, as such, 
convening for purposes of worship on the Jewish Sabbath." — British 
Quar., 21 : 79. 

" From the time of our Lord's resurrection, there is no recognition 
of a Seventh-day Sabbath in the Christian Church, especially among 
the Gentiles, though there are many proofs of the first day of the week 
being occupied in religious worship." — Cottage Bible. Com., Acts 20 : 7. 

" When Saturday was kept holy day, it was not as a Sabbath, but as 
a preparation for the Christian Sabbath.'- — Archbishop Ussher. 



142 SABBATH OF THE APOSTLES. 

day. The Churches in Corinth and throughout Galatia 
are connected with a notice of First-day. And the Church 
at Troas had a First-day meeting and bread-breaking. 
Thus the New Testament Gentile Christian is not known 
to have ever used Seventh but only First-day. His exclu- 
sive use of First-day for meetings — for preaching and 
praying — for the Eucharist — for sacred collections — is a 
firm and strong New Testament fact. 1 

The New Testament, after the Christ- resurrection, gives 
no directory ritual for Seventh-day meetings; and it does 
give fragments of a directory ritual for First-day meet- 
ings. First-day meetings have Christ's dedication and use ; 
Seventh-day meetings have not. First-day meetings have 
Apostolic dedication and use for the administration of 
baptism and the Eucharist ; Seventh-day meetings have 
not. First-day meetings have also Apostolic dedication 
and use for sacred collections; Seventh-day meetings have 

1 " That Sunday was observed by the Apostles, however, as the day 
of Christ's resurrection, is certain. " — Shaff's Hist, of the Apos. Ch., 551. 

" The first day of the week was, therefore, peculiarly honored in 
Apostolic times, and we know that it has been observed as the Chris- 
tian Sabbath ever since." — Cottage Bible. Com. on Acts 20 : 7. 

" The divinely inspired Apostles, by their practice and by their 
precepts, marked the first day of the week as a day for meeting to- 
gether to break bread, for communicating and receiving instruction, for 
laying up offerings in store for charitable purposes, for occupation in 
holy thought and prayer." — McClintock & Strong. Cycl, Art 
Lord's Day. 

" Bat from the time of his resurrection, the day of the week on which 
it occurred, and which according to the reckoning then received was 
the first, began to be observed by his disciples as the day of assemblies 
for public worship, the celebration of the sacraments, Christian com- 
munion, and other sacred purposes." — Dr. J. H. McIlvaine, in Pres. 
Bev., 14 : 262. 

" The homiletical as well as the Eucharistic services were at first 
held daily. At a later period at least every Sunday. For very soon 
alongside of the Sabbath, and, among Gentile Christians instead of it, 
the first day of the week, as the day of Christ's resurrection, began to 
be observed as a festival."— Kurtz's Ch. Hist., 1 : 63. 



APOSTOLIC SABBATISM SUMMARIZED. 143 

not. First-day for Sabbatism is never challenged ; Sev- 
enth-day for Sabbatism is challenged and set aside. First- 
day has thus the furniture and equipments for Sabbatism ; 
Seventh-day has not. It will rigorously follow that our 
Lord's resurrection, and his post-resurrection example, 
transferred Sabbatism from Seventh to First-day ; abro- 
gated and set aside Seventh-day ; instituted and put into 
its vacated place a youthful competitor. The Apostles 
obeyed these marching orders ; reporting Sabbatism as no 
longer in Seventh-day ; and using First-day alone for dis- 
tinctive Christian training and ordinances. This is the 
plain teaching and custom till Apostolic times and writings 
end. 



Sabbatism and the Apostolical Fathers. 



"Blest day of God ! Most calm, most bright, 
The first, the best of days, 
The laborer's rest, the saint's delight, 
The day of prayer and praise." 

—Herbert. 



From celestial elevations, where divine breathings invest 
New Testament institutions with authority, the transition 
to uninspired thinkers and workers is great. The extra- 
ordinary divine agency upon teachers, in giving instruction 
and establishing customs, ended when the Apostles disap- 
peared ; the ordinary alone remained. Authority ceased. 
Inspiration's divine strains died away. The Church 
Fathers are but reporters and interpreters of what they 
received from the Apostles. We consult them simply to 
ascertain the Sabbatism that came to them. They are not 
authorities. They are but witnesses. 

The earliest Fathers, as Barnabas, Polycarp, Ignatius, 
Clement of Rome, Papias, and Her mas, are called Apos- 
tolical, because contemporaries of the Apostles, and having 
probably conversed with some of them. Their literary 
remains illustrate the period from the death of Peter and 
Paul to a little beyond that of John — from the fall of 
Jerusalem to about A. D, 120. Polycarp, Papias, and 
Hermas say nothing about Sabbatism. The rest do. 
Their sayings follow : 

Apostolical Fathers as Witnesses. 

" The Epistle to Diognetus," an anonymous Greek letter 
worthy of St. Paul, does not name First-day. But it 
arraigns the Jewish Sabbath as " a superstition," as 
" utterly ridiculous," and, like Paul, associates it with the 

144 



APOSTOLICAL FATHERS AS WITNESSES. 145 

passing shadows of the old dispensation. The writer, a 
lusty defender of Christianity, evidently did not use 
Seventh-day as his day of rest and worship. 1 

i Clement of Some, usually supposed to be the companion 
of St. Paul, does not mention either the Jewish Sabbath, 
or the Lord's day. But his " First Epistle to the Corin- 
thians/' written while St. John was yet living — not earlier 
than 68 A. D. nor later than 97 A. D.— and put on a level 
at first with canonical writings — speaks of " the stated 
times/' and " the appointed times/' commanded by our 
Lord for worship. Now our risen Lord, by example and 
use, is recorded as instituting First-day worship ; and he 
is nowhere recorded as instituting Seventh-day worship. 
This testimony of Clement therefore sets forth, by indirec- 
tion, First-day worship as of divine order. 2 

" The Epistle of Barnabas " dated by scholarship as of 
the first or very early in the second century, is mentioned 
by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome. 
It was read in the early churches as Scripture. It was 
written to Jews, and to convince them that Judaism was 
abolished. It contrasts Seventh-day with First-day^ 

1 " As to their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition 
as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision, and 
their fancies about fasting and new moons, which are utterly ridiculous 
and unworthy of notice, I do not think that you require to learn any- 
thing of me." — Epis. to Diognetus, Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 26. 

"No one will be disappointed with the Epistle to Diognetus. It is 
precious, not for its eloquence only, but also for its freedom from 
puerilities and superstition. . . . After proving the vanity of idols and 
the emptiness of Judaic ceremonialism, he shows that Christianity is 
but a new form of life in the midst of the old life.^ — Farrar. Lives 
of the Fathers, 1 : 5. 

2 " It behooves us to do all things in order — ndvra rdgsc irocscv 
— which the Lord has commanded us to perform at stated times. He 
has enjoined offerings and services to be performed —npootyopeL mt 
le/rovpiai — and that not thoughtlessly or negligently, but at the appointed 
times and hours — opib/btevoi Katpoi mtupot." — I. Cor. 1 : 40. 



146 SABBATISM AND THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 

calling them in the caption, "The False and the True Sab- 
bath." It then reports this custom or practice of Chris- 
tians : " We keep the eighth day with joy, on which also 
Jesus rose from the dead." Barnabas, in this, represents 
the old Seventh-day as divinely set aside, and our Lord's 
resurrection day — " the eighth day " — as its successor and 
substitute. Seventh-day Sabbatarians seek to neutralize 
the force of this testimony, by representing Barnabas as 
not a clear thinker. He was not. But his testimony here 
is plain enough. It directly reports First-day, not 
Seventh-day, as used in Christian worship. 1 

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, was martyred not later 
than 115 A. D., more likely in 107 A. D. Seven epistles, 
enumerated by Eusebius and Jerome, were attributed to 
him among the early Christians. Later, fifteen were as- 
cribed to him, eight of which are certainly spurious. The 
seven genuine Epistles have also some questionable features. 
The Greek text is in shorter and longer forms ; the shorter 
regarded as purer ; the longer as more doubtful. " The 
Epistle to the Magnesians," one of the seven enumerated 
in antiquity, and now classed as genuine, utterly repudiates 
Judaism, as inconsistent with a profession of Christ, and 

1 " Ayo/Ltev rrjv qjuepav ttjv bydvrjv eig- evQpoawTjv ev y nat b 'Irjoovg- 

CLVECT7] EK VEKpOV." BoT. Ep. I, 15: 

" We keep the eighth day with joy, on which also Jesus rose from the 
dead." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, p. 147. 

" Barnabas here bears testimony to the observance of the Lord's day 
in early times." — Hefele. 

" It (the Epistle of Barnabas) has many good ideas and valuable tes- 
timonies, such as that in favor of the Christian Sabbath. But it goes 
to extremes in opposition to Judaism." — Shaft's Hist, of the Christ. Ch. 

§121. 

" The letter extant under his (Barnabas) name is chiefly an argu- 
ment addressed to the Jews showing that the Mosaic law had been 
abolished by Christ and a pure spiritual service substituted instead of 
their ceremonial rites and sacrifices. — Manual of Classical Lit. — 
Anthon— pp. 542-3. 



APOSTOLICAL FATHERS AS WITNESSES. 147 

as at an end ; and this, in the teaching of the times, carries 
with it the Judaic Seventh-day as Sabbath. 1 It farther 
represents Christians as " no longer observing the Sabbath, 

but living in the observance of the Lord's ; on which 

also our life has sprung up again." 2 

What word is to be supplied here? " Day " say the 
many ripe scholars ; u life " say the few Seventh-day Sab- 
batarians. They are uncritical. First : the blank is to be 
filled with a word that contrasts with " the Sabbath/' 
as used immediately preceding in the sentence; with 
"day" therefore, not with " life." Second: it is to be 
filled with something " on which our life sprang up again," 
with our Lord's resurrection day therefore — the first day 
of the week. Third : the longer form, which though un- 
trustworthy, may be used to illustrate and interpret the 
shorter form, fills the blank with the word " day " — "the 
Lord's Day " — " the queen and chief of all days." 

1 u It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize." — Shorter 
Form. 

" It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish 
in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end." — Longer 
Form. Epistle to the Magnesians, 10, Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 63. 

2 u Et ovv be ev iraTiaolr npayfxaacv avacrpotyevrtc;, eig % KaLvorrjra eXnidoc 
rfkifkQoV'ixrjKiTi Ga/3/3aTLC,ovrec } ci?iXa Kara, nvpiaayv (^uyv) (ruvreg—tv y ?; 
<?or) rjfiuv av£T€(?iev 61 avrov, nal rov Qavdrov avrov. (tiara nvpiaKrjv Cuvrex; 
is the true reading as corrected by Harnack and Zahn.) 

Shorter Form : " If, therefore, those who were brought up in the 
ancient order of things, have come to the possession of a new hope, no 
longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the 
Lord's (day), on which also our life has sprung up again by him and 
by his death. " 

Longer Form : " If then those who were conversant with the an- 
cient Scriptures came to newness of hope Let us therefore no 

longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner But let every 

one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner. . . . And after 
the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ's keep the 
Lord's day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of 
all the days " (of the week.) "To the end for the eighth day on which 
our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained 
in Christ." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 62. 



148 SABBATISM AND THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 

This testimony of Ignatius is very complete. He reports 
Seventh-day as not used by Christians. His words are 
full and plain. Destructive criticism cannot assail them. 
Christians, "no longer observed the Sabbath" — Seventh- 
day. He then tells what they did observe: " the Lord's 
(day), on which our life sprang up again." Thus Ignatius, 
perhaps a hearer of St. John, a bishop according to Chry- 
sostom by the laying on of Apostolic hands, reports 
Sabbatism as changed from the seventh to First-day. 
The Judaic Seventh-day had disappeared ; First-day had 
taken its place. 

I place in this period " The Teaching of the Twelve 
Apostles," the manuscript of which was found by Arch- 
bishop Bryennios in 1883. It is in New Testament 
Greek. Its exact date is unknown. Luthardt thinks it 
may be as early as 100 A. D. ; Hitchcock and Brown, 
American translators, as early as 120 A. D. ; and Delitsch, 
Harnack, and Hilgenfeld, as early as 140 A. D. It is 
mentioned by Eusebius and Athanasius. Clement of 
Alexandria ranked it as Scripture. It is an important 
document. It says, in chapter fourteenth : " But on the 

Lord's do ye assemble, and break bread, and give 

thanks, after confessing your transgressions, in order that 
your sacrifices may be pure." x 

1 Kara Kvptanrjv 6e Kvpiov cvvaxdivreg kTiclgclte aprov ml evxcLptGTyaare 
Trpoae^ofJLo'kyrjcdfitvGL ra naparjrufjLara vjuov bnuq aadapa rj dvoLaxpovrj.— 
Chap. 14. 

1 Translation : " On the Lord's day ye shall gather yourselves together, 
to break the bread and say thanks, after ye have confessed your mis- 
deeds," etc. — Prof. Harnack of Giessen. 

" But on the Lord's day do ye assemble, and break bread, and give 
thanks, after confessing your transgressions, in order that your sacri- 
fices may be pure." — Hitchcock and Brown. 

Note by Hitchcock and Brown, the American translators : u The 
Lord's day is the day for worship and for the Eucharist. No mention 
is made of the seventh day of the week." 

Even Seventh-day Sabbatarians have to confess that the Eucharist 
was, at this period, a belonging of First-day. The Outlook, July, 1884, 
p. 18, says : " We are willing that the ' Teaching ' should indicate 
that Sunday was observed as an Eucharist day, when the document 
was written." 



APOSTOLICAL FATHERS AS WITNESSES. 149 

All ripe scholars fill this blank with the word " day ;" 
but the few Seventh-day Sabbatarians with the word 
" table." One can hardly think them serious and sincere. 
The suggestion discredits their critical genius. It ranks 
among absurdities. The very atmosphere and wording of 
the chapter fill the blank with the word " day." It treats 
of worship ; prescribes duties in social or public worship ; 
and public worship implies, not a " table," but a "day." 
One prescribed duty — bread-breaking — the Eucharist — is 
never mentioned in the New Testament or among primi- 
tive Christians, as conducted at a "table," but on a 
11 day ; " and it is never known then as of the Seventh but 
only of First-day. This chapter on worship,— on the 
day of worship — is in harmony with the New Testament 
custom. No mention is made of Seventh-day for worship 
and for the Eucharist. The Lord's day, the first day of 
the week, appears, and not Seventh-day. 

Yet the Greek oafifiarov is in the " Teaching;" but not 
as a day of worship ; simply as a basis for reckoning the 
days of the week. The writer of the " Teaching " must 
have been a Jew. He employs oappdrov — the Jewish 
basis for the weekly calendar- — from which to count the 
week's seven days, but for no religious uses whatever. 
Sabbatic elements, according to " The Teaching," were no 
longer in the Seventh but wholly in the First-day. 1 

One other witness belongs to this period ; not an Apos- 
tolical Father or document; but an outsider, the younger 
Pliny, Proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus. Christians 
under the Emperor Trajan were persecuted. Pliny con- 
ducted the persecution in his province. About 112 A. D., 
he wrote to the Emperor 4hat " the main of the fault " of 
the persecuted Christians, according to their testimony, was 
this : " That they were wont, on a stated day, to meet to- 

1 vrjoTEvovGL yap devrepg capparuv nat nefinTri. Chap. 8. Translation 
by Hitchcock and Brown : " For they fast on the second day of the 
week and on the fifth." 



150 SABBATISM AND THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 

gether before it was light, and sing a hymn to Christ, as to 
a god, alternately. * * * After which it was their 
custom to depart, and to meet again at a common but 
innocent meal." 1 Pliny's " stated day " was certainly not 
Jewish Seventh-day, whose name was then widely known ; 
and, in that case, would have been used. It was as 
certainly some new periodic day, whose name was not yet 
familiar among outsiders. Its early morning meeting is 
suggestive of the early morning meeting on the day of 
Pentecost. The "common but innocent meal," at a later 
meeting, is suggestive of the bread-breaking at Troas, on 
First-day — of the bread-breaking in the " Teaching" on 
the Lord's (day) — of the Eucharist that is never known, 
in the New Testament or in early church history, to have 
been of the Seventh but only of First-day. It is a fair 
historic certainty that Pliny's " stated day" was the first 
day of the week — the appearing day among Christians for 
worship and for bread-breaking. 

The Testimony Summed Up. 

Apostolical Fathers — contemporaries of some of the 
Apostles — have now spoken on the Sabbatism of their 
period — Sabbatism as it came immediately to them from 
the Apostles. All have spoken. None have been over- 
looked. The testimony is all in. 

There is nothing for Seventh-day as the day for Christian 
worship; absolutely nothing; and much against it. The 
Epistolarian to Diognetus characterizes Jewish Sabbatism 
as a u superstition." Barnabas reports it disused. Ignatius 
ends it with Judaism, Christians no longer observing the 
day. And the " Teaching " separates the day altogether 

1 " They assured me that the main of their fault, or of their mistake, 
was this, that they were wont, on a stated day, to meet together 
before it was light, and to sing a hymn to Christ as to a god, alternate- 
ly .. . after which it was their custom to depart, and to meet 
again at a common but innocent meal." — Pliny. First Epistle. 



THE TESTIMONY SUMMED UP. 151 

from religious worship, and makes it simply the basis for 
reckoning the days of the week. The whole Sabbatic 
strife of the period was about the old day — the friction of 
its displacement — contentions aboyt its disuse. It is not 
in testimony, but known from other sources, that some 
Jewish Christians continued to keep Seventh as well as 
First-day. Time was needed for them to move entirely out 
from the old into the new day. * They are classed as Heretics. 
Reverence for Seventh-day was stronger in the East, 
weaker in the West. But the day is never associated with 
Christian worship and ordinances ; is steadily associated 
with decaying Judaism ; is sharply opposed ; and has at 
best but a permissive existence and limited use. It is 
wholly Judaistic; not in any sense Christian. 

There is nothing against First-day as the day for 
Christian meetings; absolutely nothing; and everything 
for it. Christians are set forth by Barnabas, as keepers of 
the "eighth day," the Christ-resurrection day; by Igna- 
tius, as observing the Lord's (day), the day on which our 
life sprang up again; by the "Teaching," as assembling 
and breaking bread on the Lord's (day) ; and by Pliny, as 
holding meetings in the early morning and later on a 
"stated day." Thus First-day, in the literary remains of 
the period, was steadily associated in joy and triumph 
with our Lord's resurrection; had an enjoined existence; 
had an unrestricted use. It opened, like Pentecost, with 
an early morning meeting; had a later meeting; had bread - 

1 " Those Churches, however, which were composed of Jewish 
Christians, though they admitted with the rest the festival of Sunday, 
yet retained also that of the Sabbath." — Neander's Hist, of the Christ. 
Bel. and Oh., Vol. 1, p. 296. 

The Jewish Christians as already remarked, adhered to the Old 
Testament Sabbath, especially in Palestine; but with it they celebrated 
also the first day of the week in memory of the Savior's resurrection, 
and that too, it would appear, from the very day of the resurrection 
onward, which they looked upon as sanctioned for such purpose by 
Christ himself."— Shaff's Hist, of the Apos. Church, p. 552. 



152 SABBATISM AND THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 

breaking; and sought the instruction of disciples. This looks, 
and was, a rest day — a septenary rest-day — a holy and blessed 
day. It has essential Sabbatic elements. And the Sabbatic 
strife of the period was not at all about the new day. No 
one objected to it — challenged it — opposed it. The reasons 
for its use were evidently so controlling that it occupied its 
place without friction — without criticism or comment — 
as a matter of course, It evidently came to the Apostol- 
ical Fathers, as a Christ-institution, sanctioned by Apos- 
tolic use. 

Thus, as we emerge from Scripture, we find, not Sev- 
enth but First-day, employed for Sabbatic uses. Church 
history harmonizes with New Testament teaching. Their 
voice is one. Seventh-day is stript of Sabbatism ; and, 
not without friction, is pushed aside. First-day is invested 
with Sabbatism, and is in unchallenged and unlimited use. 
This is history — the testimony of the Apostolical Fathers 
— no dissent whatever appearing. The credentials of 
First-day to Sabbatism are complete. 



Sabbatism and the Church Fathers. 



" The Sundays of man's life, 
Threaded together on Time's string, 
Make bracelets to adorn the wife 
Of the eternal, glorious King." 

— Herbert. 



I step still farther away from the Apostles — from 
inspiration — from divine authority, I descend the stream 
of history. I pass from contemporaries to successors of 
the Apostles; to second century Church Fathers; to 
writers from 120 A. D. to about 200 A. D. From the 
Apostles, as special organs of the Holy Ghost, we reach 
the succeeding Church Fathers by many steps downward, 
like the descending traveler who passes from the pure 
fountain to where the streams begin to grow troubled and 
muddy. Our new 7 witnesses represent the Christian senti- 
ment of antiquity nearest to New Testament times. They 
lived near the date of Apostolic customs and institutions. 
They are competent witnesses of the Sabbatism they 
received from the Apostles and that was in use in their 
day. 

What Second Century Fathers Say. 

Justin Martyr, called the philosopher, was eminent 
among the most illustrious personages of his day. Euse- 
bius says that he overshadowed all the great men who 
illuminated the second century. a He was conversant with 
the Apostolical Fathers. His First Apology, appearing 
about 139 A. D., discusses Sabbatism. He names and 
describes the day in use among primitive Christians for 

a Hist. Eccl., 4: 11. 

153 



154 SABBAT1SM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

worship. It was not Seventh but First day. He calls it 
by a new name — Sunday. 1 Christians, he says, assembled 
on Sundays; had sacred readings, instructions, and exhor- 
tations; celebrated the Eucharist with prayer and thanks- 
giving; and gathered a collection for the poor. This 
Sunday meeting has Luke's First-day bread-breaking at 
Troas, and Paul's First-day collections for the saints. 
Justin's Sunday was First-day. He characterizes it as the 
day on which " our Savior rose from the dead." Thus 
the Christian day for meeting and worship in 139 A. D. 
was First-day. 

Justin, in his " Dialogue with Trypho the Jew," makes 
the contention cover three Judaisms ; circumcision, Sab- 
baths, and feasts. He declares that Christians, as Christians, 
did not keep these three Judaisms, or any of them. Try- 
pho replies that they did not. 2 Justin then sets forth that 

1 Tyv Se rov rfkiov rjiiepav mcvr) rrjv cvvkXzvaiv notou/ueda, cneid?) npcjT^ 
eGTiv rjiiepa, ev y 6 Qeoc to onoTvq, kcli rrjv v?^v Tpiipoq kogjuov tnoiiice, mi 6 
Itjgovc XpiOTog' 6 rifierepQ- Xuryp rrj avrfj rrj qjuepg tn vwpuv dvtaTTj. — 
Justin. ApoL, 1 : 67. 

" On the day of the Sun — Sunday — we all assemble in common, since 
that is the first day on which God, having changed darkness and chaos, 
made the world, and on the same day our Savior Jesus Christ arose 
from the dead." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 186. 

" It is the mission of Justin to be a star in the West, leading its 
Wise Men to the cradle of. Bethlehem." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 159. 

2 Trypho, the Jew, to Justin : "Be circumcised, then observe what 
ordinances have been enacted with respect to the Sabbath, and the 
feasts and the new moons." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 199. 

Justin to Trypho : " Is there any other matter, my friend, in which 
we are blamed than this, that we live not after the law, and are not 

circumcised and do not observe Sabbaths, as you do?" Trypho 

to Justin : " You observe no festivals, or Sabbaths, and do not have 
the rite of circumcision." — Ditto. 

Trypho to Justin: " But if some one. . . .recognizes that this man is 
Christ, and has believed in and obeys him, wishes, however, to observe 
these (Judaisms), will he be saved?" Justin to Trypho: "In my 
opinion, Trypho, he will." Trypho to Justin : " Why then have you 
said, ' In my opinion such an one will be saved/ unless there are some 
who affirm that such will not be saved ? " Justin to Trypho : " There 
are such people, Trypho." 

"Vindicating (as Justin, for instance, does in his Dialogue with Try- 
pho the Jew) the neglect of Sabbath keeping by Gentile Christians.'* 
—The Inter, CycL, Art. Sabbath. 



WHAT SECOND CENTURY FATHERS SAY. 155 

Christians were divided as to whether keepers of the three 
Judaisms could be real Christians — could be saved. Some 
thought they could not. As for himself he thought they 
might be, if they did not depend on the Judaisms, and did 
depend on Christ. "We," (Christians) he says, "do not 
observe Sabbaths." Justin thus opposes Seventh -day for 
Sabbath keeping. 

This testimony of Justin is clear and final. Christians, 
as Christians, did not in 139 A. D. keep Seventh-day as 
Sabbath ; and they did keep First-day — " the chief and 
first of days." Seventh-day Sabbatarians never go to 
Justin for comfort. He calls the Christian day of worship 
Sunday — First-day — the Christ resurrection day. 

Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, was the author of eight 
epistles, all now lost, except some brief fragments preserved 
by Eusebius. One fragment speaks of the Lord's day and 
its uses. It is an extract from a letter written to Soter, 
Bishop of Rome. Dionysius says : u To-day we have 
passed the Lord's holy day, in which we have read your 
Epistle." 1 The Greek phrase used by John on Patmos, is 
here used in full. It now, and frequently appears in 
patristic writings ; and always with the meaning First- 
day — our Lord's resurrection day. The Soter letter was 
read on the Lord's day. It was the custom of the period 
to read Christian letters in First-day meetings. 

Irenseus, a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of 
St. John, a was called by Theodoret, " the light of the 
Western World." Like Justin, he held the Sabbath to be 
wholly Jewish ; beginning with Moses ; and not surviving 
Judaism. He meant in this the Judaic day — seventh day 

a Euseb. H. E., 5 : 20. 

1 " Greek text : ttjv orjfiepav ovv KvptaKrjv dylav rjuepav du/yayofiev, iv 
J aveyvojuev v^covryv kiuGTokr]v" — Euseb. Eccl. Hist., B. 4, c. 23. 

Translation : " We have passed (kept) the Lord's holy day and pe- 
rused your epistle, in the reading of which we find admonition." 



156 SABBATISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

— not Sabbatism itself; for he characterized the Decalogue 
as permanent, and as receiving in Christ, u extension and 
increase, not abrogation." 1 The temporary Judaic Sabbath, 
as he interprets it, had no longer divine significance. Like 
circumcision it had ceased. 

Among the primitive Christians the iveekly celebration 
of the Christ resurrection on First-day was never "chal- 
lenged ; but its yearly celebration was. This is called the 
Easter controversy. The contention was, whether Easter 
should always be celebrated on First-day, or on the third 
day after the 14th of the Hebrew month Nisan. Irenasus, 
though seeking to be a peacemaker, advocated its celebration 
on First-day alone. 2 The churches of Gaul, chiefly through 

1 " God gave circumcision , ... as a sign This same does Eze- 

kiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbath. Sec. 1 The 

laws of bondage .... were one by one promulgated to the people by 
Moses. . . . These thingc, therefore, which were given for bondage and 
for a sign to them, He canceled by the new covenant of liberty." — 
Against Heretics, sec. 5. 

"The Lord did speak in His own person to all alike the words of 
the Decalogue : and therefore ... do they remain permanently with 
us, receiving, by means of His advent in the flesh, extension and in- 
crease, but not abrogation." — Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 480-2. 

2 "The mystery of the Lord's resurrection may not be celebrated on 
any other day than the Lord's day, and on this alone should we observe 
the breaking off of the Paschal feast." — Euseb. 5 : 23 : 2. 

3 " This (custom) of not bending the knee on Sunday is a symbol of 
the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace of 
Christ, from sins and from death which has been put to death under 
him. Now this custom took its rise from Apostolic times, as the 
blessed Irenseus, the martyr and Bishop of Lyons, declares in his treat- 
ise 'On Easter,' in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon 
which (feast) we do not bend the knee, because it is of equal signifi- 
cance with the Lord's day, for the reason already alleged concerning 
it." — Lost Writings. 7th Fragment. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 569. 

" For Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, who was a contemporary of the 
disciple of the Apostle Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and martyr, and 
for this reason held in just estimation, wrote to an Alexandrian to the 
effect that it is right with respect to the feast of the resurrection, that 
we should celebrate it upon the first day of the week." — 50th Fragment. 
Introductory note by Syriac editor. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1 : 576. 



WHAT SECOND CENTURY FATHERS SAf. 157 

his influence, sent a letter to Victor, Bishop of Rome, de- 
claring this as their conviction. The letter is preserved in 
Eusebius. Another fragment from his pen, preserved by 
an unknown writer, repeats the same view. And in 
another preserved fragment, he is reported as making 
Easter of equal significance with the Lord's day. 

This testimony, though partly incidental, is clear, distinct, 
very complete. The Churches of the West did not keep 
Seventh-day. They did keep the Lord's day. 

Melita, Bishop of Sardis, about 170 A. D., is said to 
have composed a treatise on the Lord's day. It is among 
lost writings. Its title is however preserved in Eusebius. a 

The Ebionites, Judaizing Christians, who like the Naz- 
arenes clung to the Jewish ritual and its Sabbath, appeared, 
according to Hegesippus, in 108 A. D., some say as enrly 
as 66 A. D. Eusebius b reports them as half Jewish in 
observing the Sabbath, and half Christian in keeping the 
Lord's day. Theodoret describes them in like manner. 
He says : " They keep the Sabbath according to the Jewish- 
law, and sanctify the Lord's day in like manner as we do." 
Thus Sabbath-keeping stands as Judaistic ; keeping the 
Lord's day as Christian. Even the most Judaistic Chris- 
tians, so Judaistic as to be accounted heretics, kept the 
Lord's day. l 

Bardesanes, a Christian Gnostic, wrote a treatise on 
Fate, and addressed it to the Emperor, Marcus Aurelius 
Antoninus. He says : u What then shall we says respect- 
ing the new race of ourselves, who are Christians, whom 
in every country and in every region, the Messiah estab- 
lished at his coming ; for lo ! wherever we be, all of us are 

a Euseb. H. E. 4: 26. b Euseb. H E. 3 : 27. 

1 "The Jewish Christians ceased to observe the Sabbath after the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. The Ebionites and Nazarenes kept up the 
habit even longer."— Shaff-Herzog. Encycl. of Know!., Art. Sunday. 



158 SABBATISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

called by the one name of the Messiah, Christians ; and 
upon one day, which is the first day of the week, we 
assemble ourselves together, and on the appointed days we 
abstain from food f " a 

Clement of Alexandria, a somewhat mystical writer, yet 
distinguished in Attic and also in Christian scholarship, 
was a disciple of Plato and afterwards of Jesus. His 
writings are prominent among the Christian remains of 
antiquity. Justin, Irenseus, and Clement are notable 
among the earlier founders of Christian literature. Clement 
discusses the transfer of Sabbat ism from the Seventh to 
the Primal day. He names them as u the seventh and the 
eighth . . . the latter properly the Sabbath, and the 
seventh a day of work . . . the seven became six, and the 
eight seven .... seven glorifies eight." 1 These abbre- 
viated steps in his argument show his real thought. He 
argues the transferrence of Sabbatism from the Hebrew 
seventh to the Hebrew eighth, that is to the first day in 
the weekly cycle. The Lord's day drops from his pen as 
an institution well and widely known. He names it with 
our Lord's resurrection, and thus identifies it as First- 
day^ 

a Spicilegium Syriacum. Cureton's Translation. 

1 " That He (the Creator) gave us the seventh day as a day of rest, 

on account of the trouble that there is in life The seventh day, 

therefore, is proclaimed a rest — abstraction from ills — preparing for 
the Primal day, our true rest .... since the discourse has turned on 
the seventh and the eighth. For the eighth may possibly turn out to 
be the seventh, and the seventh manifestly the sixth ; and the latter 
properly the Sabbath, and the seventh a day of work. . . . The seven 
become six, and the eight seven. . . . Seven glorifies eight." — Strom. 
6 : 16. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2 : 512. 

2 " A nd the Lord's day, Plato prophetically speaks of in the tenth 
book of the Republic." — Strom. 5: 14. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2: 469. 

''He, in fulfillment of the precept, according to the Gospel, keeps 
the Lord's day, when he abandons an evil disposition, and assumes 
that of the Gnostic, glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself."— 
Strom. 7 : 12. ' Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2: 545. 



WHAT SECOND CENTURY FATHERS SAY. 159 

Minucius Felix, first to array Christianity in a Latin 
dress, lias graces of style that make him a worthy disciple 
of Cicero. He wrote " Octavius," in which treatise 
Octavius and Csecil ius discuss Christianity and heathenism. 
One of the disputants says of Christians : " On a solemn 
day, persons of both sexes and of every age assemble at a 
feast with all their children, sisters, and mothers." 8 Bread- 
breaking among primitive Christians was always on First- 
day. 

Tertullian, a Carthaginian — in temper sharp and vehe- 
ment — in genius versatile and brilliant — stands in history 
as the founder of Latin Christianity. His writings abound 
in allusions to Sabbatism. Like Justin and Clement, he 
argues with Jews — that their Sabbath was temporary — not 
even patriarchal — dating only from Moses— disappearing 
in Christ. 1 He distinguishes Christians from Jews as to 
their respective days of worship ; Christians keeping 
First-day ; Jews, Seventh-day. 2 The weekly day of 

a Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 178. 

1 " 'Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years' — Ihe Sab- 
baths, I suppose, and 'the preparation,' and the fasts, and the 'high 
days.' For the cessation of even these, no less than of circumcision, 
"was appointed by the Creator's decrees." — Against Marcion. Ante- 
Nicene Fathers, 3 : 436. 

" Of Jewish ceremonies and legal solemnities : for these the Apostle 
unteaches." — On Fasting, 14. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 4 : 112. 

"The observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been tem- 
porary." — An Answer to the Jews. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 155. 

2 "We make Sunday a day of festivity. . . . The Jewish feasts are 
the Sabbath and 'the Purification.'" — Ad Nationes, 13. Ante-Nicene 
Fathers, 3: 123. 

"Wherefore .... you who reproach us with the sun and Sunday 
should consider your proximity to us. We are not far ofl' from your 
Saturn (the Jewish Sabbath) and your days of rest." 

"By us to whom Sabbaths are strange." — On Idolatry, 14. Ante- 
Nicene Fathers, 3 : 70. 

"We neither accord with the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to 
food, nor in their sacred days." — Apology, 21. Ante Xicene Fathers, 
3:34. 






160 SABBATISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

the Christ-resurrection, called by him "Sunday," "eighth 
day" and " the Lord's day," he emphasizes as the day for 
Christian meetings and worship ; and its annual day as 
superior to all heathen festivals. The Lord's day, as he 
reports it still farther, was a day so joyful that Christians 
in worship did not kneel ; and they put off their business 
and rested. 2 This testimony covers all grounds. At the 
close of the second Christian century Seventh-day worship 
was exclusively Judaic, and Christian worship belongs in 
all reports to First-day. 1 

The Testimony and the Times. 

Second century Church Fathers have now been interro- 
gated on the Sabbatism of their times; and none who 
speak on the subject have been omitted. Their testimony 
is a unit. Seventh-day worship is nowhere reported as 
Christian ; but always as Judaic — as worn out — as set 
aside. An exception to this broad statement does not 
anywhere appear. First-day worship is everywhere re- 
ported as Christian; as in common use; and it is invaria- 
bly traced to the Christ-resurrection. To this there is no 

1 " To the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually : you 
have a festive day every eighth day. Call out the individual solemni- 
ties of the nations, and set them out in a row, they will not be able to 
make up a Pentecost." — On Idolatry, 14. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3: 70. 

" We take also, in the congregation before daybreak, and from the 
hand of none but the presidents, the sacrament of the Eucharist, 
which the Lord hath commanded to be eaten by all alike." — Tertul- 
lian. The Chaplet, 3. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 94. 

2 " We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's day to be 
unlawful."— The Chaplet, 3. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 94. 

" Not the Lord's day, not Pentecost even, if they had known them, 
would they have shared with us ; for they would fear lest they should 
seem to be Christians." — Tertullian. On Idolatry, 14. Ante-Nicene 
Fathers, 3 : 70. 

"We however, (just as we have received,) only on the day of the 
Lord's resurrection ought to guard not only against kneeling, but every 
posture and office of solicitude ; deferring even our business lest we 
give place to the devil." — On Prayer, 23. Ante-Nicene Fathers, 3 : 689. 



THE TESTIMONY AND THE TIMES. 161 

issent. The witnesses all speak as one man. They do 
not ordain the day. They do not defend it. They simply 
report it. They keep it. They raise no doubt of their 
obligation to keep it. Always and everywhere, they 
report First-day as connecting them with Christian teach- 
ings and ordinances. 1 

Sunday, as a name for First day, emerged in patristic 
literature in this century — about 139 A. D. Justin first 
used it. It is a purely human name for the day; but it 
has nothing to do with the sun worship cult. Some writers 
indeed assume that Sunday was a heathen name for First- 
day before Justin used it, and regard its adoption as the 
emptying of the whole heathen cult upon Christianity. 
This is not sober sense. It is a historic falsehood. The 
! name is of Christian birth and original. It is not found 
anywhere in use back of Justin. Keeping the day of the 
sun, as a weekly festival, was unknown before Christianity. 
The week, at the Advent, was exclusively Judaic — then 
Christian. Sun-worship, till brought in contact with Ju- 
daism, or Christianity, knew nothing of the weekly period, 
or of a weekly day of worship. Roman festivals were 
not weekly events; nor were Grecian ; nor .were Egyptian ; 
nor were Syrian ; till Judaism and Christianity made them 
such. Sunday, then, as a human name for First-day, has 
very little to do with heathenism. 

1 " The first day of the week was everywhere set apart for this pur- 
pose " (worship). — Encycl. Brit., Art. Sabbath 

u The first day of the week was adopted by the early Christians as a 
day of worship. . . . Sunday was emphatically the weekly festival 
of the resurrection of Christ. ... In the second century its ob- 
servance was universal." — Shaff-Herzog Encyc. of Knowi, Art. Sunday. 

" The change in the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day falls 
in with the changes that were introduced in the external organization 
of the Church of God at the introduction of Christianity. Every- 
thing was changed by the example and authority of the divine Author 
of the Christian Dispensation." — Nevin. Pres. Encyc., Art. Sabbath. 



162 SABBATISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

New institutions may be affected by the scenery, the 
community, the times ; and always receive some tinge from 
antagonizing and competing institutions. Action and re- 
action is a law among social and moral forces, as well as 
in mechanics. Christianity was tinged by Judaism and 
also by Paganism. And First-day worship would neces- 
sarily receive some new shapings from competing days of 
rest and devotion. But he must be a very minute philoso- 
pher who characterizes Christianity as a child of Pagan- 
ism, because its sacred day has the name Sunday. 

Chronology, one of the eyes of history, arranges the 
dates of events. Man, its builder, began very crudely. A ' 
common era, its essential basis, was not selected for long 
ages. The ante-diluvians had no common era. They 
reckoned by generations. And post-diluvians long had no 
common era. Accadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyp- 
tians, Hebrews, all reckoned by generations. 

The year goes back to immemorial times, and, among 
the earliest peoples, had twelve months. The months had 
no names. They were numbered — were designated by 
ordinals. Names came later, and, when first used, the 
ordinals were added in the way of explanation, showing 
that the names were of later origin. a 

The week had a like history. It was created and meas- 
ured by the Sabbath. Its days had no names. The Ac- 
cadian week days had not. The early Assyrian weekdays 
had not. The Hebrew week days had not. They were 
numbered — were designated by ordinals. Each day was 
counted from the Sabbath. This weekly calendar contin- 
ued down to the planting of Christianity. The first 
Christians used it. They, like the Jews, counted the days 
of the week from the Sabbath. But names for the days 
were an invention of the period. Saturn, as a name for 

a Gen. 7 : 1 i ; 8 : ] 3. Origin of Lews 1 : 229. 



THE TESTIMONY AND THE TIMES. 163 

seventh day, first appears in Tibullus, a Roman poet, about 
18 B. C.; a Sunday y as a name for first day, in Justin, 
about 139 A. D.; Ermou (Wednesday) for fourth day, 
and Aphrodites (Friday) for sixth day, in Clement of Al- 
exandria, about 200 A. D. Soon planetary names were 
put upon all the days of the week. 

Now when the week came to be in prevailing use at 
Rome — about 200 A. D. 1 — it was not the Jewish but the 
Christian week ; not the week that turns upon Seventh 
day, but the week that turns upon First day. This is a 
most remarkable fact. It attests that First day, as a day 
of rest and worship, had long been molding society. New 
ideas and customs make slow social transformations. 
Graceful ice forms, incrusting a window, are born of a 
winter night, and are as short lived. Social changes do 
not so swiftly come and go. Their evolution is slower, 

■ Tibullus. Eleg., 1:3:18. 

1 " Week . . . was not introduced at Kome till after the reign of 
Theodosius." — Encyc. Brit, Art. Calendar. 

"The division (hebdomadal) was introduced among the Romans, it 
is said, not far from the beginning of the third century. " — Anthon. 
Class. Man. Lit., 61. 

" From the beginning of the third century, the Egyptian week, 
(erroneously following Dion Cassius), of which the seven days were 
consecrated to the planets, became common amongst the Romans. " — 
Geisler. Eccl. Hist., 121, Note 30. 

"Among the western nations, especially the Roman, the institution 
of Sabbatism was introduced by the Jews in the early days of the Em- 
pire, along with the institution of the seven-days week." — Schrader. 
The Gunet. Ins, and the Old Test., 21. 

"Before the death of Hadrian, A. D. 138, the hebdomadal division 
. . . had, in matters of common life, almost universally superseded 
in Greece, and even in Italy, the national division of the lunar month." 
— McClintock & Strong. GycL, Art. Lord's Day. 

It was not the Judaic but the Christian week — not the Judaic Sev- 
enth day but the Christian First-day — that prevailed at Rome about 
200 A. D. Tertullian shows this ; Christians abstaining from work on 
First-day (On Prayer, 23); and non-Christians also resting on First- 
day (Ad Nationes, 13). 






164 SABBATISM OF THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

like the tardy modifying of organic forms under the action 
of physical causes. In four centuries, two before and two 
after the Advent, Greeks and Egyptians passed from 
decades, and Romans from nundince, Calends, Nones, and 
Ides, to the week and its Sabbatism — to the Christian week 
and its First day Sabbatism. Unchristianized Romans, in 
Tertullian's time, were using the weekly calendar, with 
First-day as a partial or total rest day. a This incipient 
completion of the mighty social revolution is historic proof 
that First day had long been making a deep impression, 
throughout the Roman Empire, as a day of rest and de- 
votion. 

The planting of Christianity is the greatest chapter in 
the social progress of man. The Jews began the work ; 
advanced it far on its way ; then grew stationary ; looked 
back, and clung to the past. The past never returns. 
Primitive Christians took up the work where the Jews 
laid it down; caught its fuller spirit; rolled the stone 
from the door of progress ; kept their faces to the future, 
and their march was onward. Jews and Christians 
together rearranged the nations, and revolutionized the 
world. 

The workers together in this great providential move- 
ment — Jews and Christians : — had scarcely met in history 
till they began to separate. Sabbatism was a chief factor 
in making and widening the breach between them ; not 
First-day Sabbatism, however, for no scrap of history 
shows any division here, even the Judaizing Nazarenes 
and Ebionites keeping First as well as Seventh day ; but 
Seventh-day Sabbatism that seems to have called out dis- 
cussion and antagonism from the very beginning. The 
New Testament reports Judaizing teachers — disturbing the 
Church — resisted by Paul and Barnabas. And early 
Church Fathers had dialectic conflicts witli Jews; Justin 
with Trypho; Tertullian against Jews; and Origen in 



THE TESTIMONY AND THE TIMES. 165 

his day. Early patristic writings were apologetic towards 
Gentiles, but antagonistic towards Jews. The keeping of 
seventh-day as Sabbath was a chief battle-field. The con- 
troversy steadily shows that Seventh-day worship was a 
pure Judaism — was in no sense Christian — and had but a 
limited existence and use. There is not a shred of testi- 
mony anywhere showing that Seventh day meetings among 
the Church Fathers of the first two centuries were any 
part of the Christian movement. All the Church Fathers, 
who speak on the subject, oppose them. Like Paul, they 
represent Seventh day as no longer Sabbatic. It had 
ceased as a divine institution. 

The Constantine edict in 321 A. D., putting special honor 
on First-day by making it a day of rest from labor, applied 
to all Roman citizens — Pagans as well as Christians — and its 
only exception to universal use and obligation was in the 
rural districts where perhaps Pagans were still in the major- 
ity. The edict was a reporter as well as a creator of social 
customs. It made First-day a day of rest from labor, be- 
cause it was already really and widely such. 1 Social revo- 
lutions are not born of edicts, but of ideas ; do not spring up 
in a night, but are growths. The breath of the new rest day 
must have been long breathing upon society, before it mold- 
ed and prepared the nations for the Constantine edict. The 
edict accepted Sunday rest as an already existing fact, and 
made it legal— did that and nothing more. It conformed to 

1 "The Greeks and the barbarians have this in common, that they 
accompany their sacred rites by a festal remission of labor."— Strabo, 

IX : 3: 9. 
" This practice (of resting from labor on the Lord's day) is naturally 
and even necessarily connected witli the religious observance of the 
Lord's day as a day of worship and religious gladness." — Cycl. Brit., 
Art. Sabbath. 
* So long as the Christians were oppressed they could not keep the 
day as one of rest from labor as they desired, and as they did after the 
union of Church and State/' — Shaff-Herzog. Encycl. Eel. KnowL 
Art. Sunday. 



166 SABBATISM AND THE CHURCH FATHERS. 

and confirmed a widely prevailing custom. It is evidence 
therefore that Christians had long used First-day as a day 
of rest from labor. 

Remission of ordinary business evidently belonged to 
the day, more or less, from the beginning. Thus we have 
glimpses of meetings held in all parts of the day; early 
morning meetings ; day meetings ; evening meetings; sug- 
gesting, when taken together, a day of no work. Tertul- 
lian farther lifts the veil, and shows Sunday a day of rest 
both to Christians and pagans ; Christians deferring " work 
lest they should give place to the Devil ; " and even Pagans 
making the day one of partial or of entire rest. Indeed it 
was only the keeping of Sunday as a day of rest from the 
beginning, that made the Constantine edict possible within 
three centuries from the resurrection of our Lord. 

I write a closing word on the change of day — summar- 
izing the facts that report the change. Sabbatism was 
moved out of Seventh into First day. It was moved by 
the Lord of the Sabbath himself; rising from the dead on 
First not on Seventh day; appearing to disciples always 
on First never on Seventh days ; appointing a First not a 
Seventh day meeting to disciples ; initiating his Gospel on 
First not on Seventh day ; and making the last known 
visible revelation of himself on First not on Seventh day. 
By these acts He transferred Sabbatism. In his resur- 
rection, and in his post-resurrection example, He ended the 
old series of Sabbaths — He began the new series of Sab- 
baths. His disuse and disapproval of the old day dis- 
placed it ; His use and approval of the new day instituted 
it. If our risen Lord- — our risen and ascended Lord — the 
Lord of the Sabbath — had authority to change the day, 
then the day is changed. His post- resurrection life and 
doings give no support whatever to Seventh day Sabbatism. 
They establish First-day Sabbatism. The risen One trans- 
lated and transferred holy time. 



THE TESTIMONY AND THE TIMES. 167 

The Apostles were not Sabbath-Makers. They could 
neither translate nor transfer Sabbatism. They were under 
marching orders. They were to shape the forming customs 
of the Church according to the teachings and the exam- 
ple of our risen Lord. In doing this, they steadily recog- 
nized the Divine transferrence of Sabbatism from Seventh 
to First day. Five times they are reported as using 
Seventh day. But they only used it as a convenience; to 
better reach assembled Jews ; merely for preaching ; never 
for any Christian ordinance. The day was not Christian- 
ized. And their only known teaching about the day 
reports it vacated of Sabbatism — a shrivelled form — a 
disused husk. Thus they report Seventh day as divinely 
set aside from Sabbatic uses — as having no longer divine 
significance. Six times they are reported as using First 
day. They used it for prayer and preaching. They used 
it alone for sacred collections. They used it alone for the 
Christian ordinances — for baptism — for the Lord's Supper. 
The day was Christianized. It appears as part and parcel 
of Apostolic and so of Scriptural Christianity. Thus 
Apostolic history and writings report the ancient order of 
Sabbaths ended; and the new order of Sabbaths begun. 

Church Fathers — Apostolic contemporaries and success- 
ors — report the day for Christian meetings and worship 
that came to them that was in use in their times — as never 
Seventh but always First-day. All the writers of the 
period who discuss Sabbatism say this. Their testimony 
is a unit. There is nowhere a dissenting voice. History 
corroborates them. Mighty social changes were widely 
establishing the custom of First-day rest; giving it pre- 
valence at Rome at the end of the second century ; and 
making it a law of the Roman Empire a century later. 
First-day is, by all testimony, the Sabbath of the Christian 
era. 



THE SABBATH IN HISTORY. 



"That stream upon whose bosom we have passed, 
Floating at ease, while nations have effaced 
Nations, and death has gathered to his folds 
Long lines of mighty kings." 



The Sabbath Sun that shines down upon this nineteenth 
Christian century is of immemorial antiquity. It is of to- 
day; it was ot yesterday. It unites the present with the 
oldest times — with mythical ages— with the creation epoch. 
It has reached us " across the ages from afar." The channel 
in which it flows is centuries deep. History knows the 
institution as an old-time fact; older than pyramids; 
older than death's reign over man. It has run, as a silver 
thread, through all historic time, moving as steadily as the 
swift chariot of Phoebus has sped through the sky. Our 
earth has wrinkles ; the Sabbath, like Time, has none. 

The Sabbath from the beginning has walked a highway 
all its own. It is a historic unit. Its various epochs and 
eras form but one grand providential drama. There is 
nowhere visible in its divine history the gulf of a great 
revolution. Time, the mighty imiovater, has wrought in 
it no material change. As we turn its pages backward to 
the beginning, the initial Sabbath has all the stateliness 
and completeness of the Sabbath of to-day. This is not 
said of the day as man has kept it; a blurred picture of the 
* day as God appoints it ; but it is said of the day as it stands 
inscribed in history — in the Decalogue — in the older 
Genesis record — in the still older inscriptions of Accad. 
Naturalists, who regard all institutions as a growth, meet 
an insoluble problem in the historic Sabbath ; carried along 
now on quiet anon on turbulent streams ; exhibiting 

les 






ITS IMMEMORIAL ANTIQUITY. 16S 

blemishes indeed on its human side; but showing also a 
side so natural and so divine that it has essential identity 
back to the very beginning. This is an enigma to all 
their theories. 1 

Its Immemorial Antiquity. 

As the Sabbath dates back beyond Sinai to the very 
sources of history ; as it has descended to us in a continuous 
and unbroken stream ; it is impossible to contemplate it 
without feelings of profound reverence. It rises before us 
as antedating and as surviving the oldest things before 
which we stand with bowed and reverent head. It has 
witnessed the rise and the fall of empires, kingdoms, 
thrones, and dynasties ; the appearing and the disappearing 
of arts, sciences and literatures; and the coming and going 
in history of civilizations, and religions — the civilizations 
and religions of Assyria, Egypt, India, Greece, Rome. 
Gone are the best and most enduring works of early men ; 
their builded temples and palaces; the creations of their 
genius and their power. Gone are the workers themselves ; 
kings, prophets, priests, statesmen, teachers, singers, 
shouters, bronzed warriors and weary toilers. They are 
but moldering ruins — decaying sepulchers. Nothing but 
echoes of them remains. But the Sabbath stands, change- 
less, in the vast theater where they came and went, like 
some conspicuous mountain peak, firm as the earth beneath, 

1 "The use of the Sabbath, as it began, will end only with the world 
itself." — Bishop Horsley. Sermons, 444. 

"The Sabbath was believed to prevail in all its strictness from 
eternity, throughout the universe.' ' — Geike. Ihe Life of Christ, 4o0. 

"From Genesis down to Revelation, I find the day published, re- 
published, endorsed, sanctioned, and never repealed." — Bishop Ryle, 
in A word for Sunday. 

"Antiquity has bequeathed the Sabbath to modern nations; and the 
fact that this institution has subsisted in spite of the changes that have 
taken place in the domain of polities and religion, testifies to its 
intrinsic value and its absolute necessity.' ' — Haegler. Der Sontag. 



170 THE SABBATH IN HISTORY. 

and pure as the stars above. It is without a parallel in 
the institutions and creations of men ; bright as the bow 
of promise that spanned and beautified the clouds above 
Noah ; lovely as the fabled goddess beneath whose steps 
fragrant flowers are ever springing ; and flowing ever the 
same beneath and above all changes that sweep over the 
face of Time and Nature. It is an abiding factor in the 
world's best history and life ; and, amid social and moral 
factors and forces, stands so incomparably bright, so vital 
and enduring, so potent and pervasive, that it seems in 
itself a symbol as well as an institution of the immutable 
God. 

Keeping the Sabbath is observing the Divine Meeting 
Day for mankind; and Sabbath worshipers are an un- 
broken line back to the beginning. Stand aside, and see 
the unending column pass by ; floating its Sabbath 
banners ; singing its Sabbath songs. Adam and Eve 
head the procession. Abel, Enoch and other ante- 
diluvian worthies move in the ranks. Noah renews 
the march. Accadians appear in the moving col- 
umn. Job joins it in the land of Uz ; Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob in the land or Canaan. One can almost hear the 
bleating of their flocks and the lowing of their herds as they 
sweep by. Moses re-formed the procession, and started 
that mighty column of Judaism that eventually rekindled 
Sabbath campfiies in all the world. Jesus changed the 
day, and initiated the march of the Christian hosts. 
Apostles head the new movement. Martyrs come and go. 
Reformers drift by. The procession is unending. It is a 
vast spectacle. We gaze upon it with awe, wonder, 
reverence. 

As the Sabbath dates back beyond Sinai to the very 
sources of history ; as it connects the man who stood in 
Eden with the sin-scarred man of to-day; it must be of 



ITS IMMEMORIAL ANTIQUITY. 171 

God, not of man ; a divine arrangement, not a human con- 
trivance. No creation of man has spanned such an arch of 
time. What is of man is short-lived. The Sabbath if a 
human invention, would long since have perished. Its 
survival, amid the wide wreckage of human works, is 
proof that it unrolled itself from the bosom, not of man 
but of God ; and that it has been under oversight and 
keeping other than of man. It did not spring from the 
earth, but came down from the skies. It is well descended. 
It is of celestial birth and origin. It was born of the 
divine example and appointment. This is its genesis. 
And its history, like its origin, declares it divine. For its 
safe keeping in the changing centuries can be traced only 
to providential oversight and watchcare. Whence this 
earth and yon heavens ? Whence man ? The supernat- 
uralist points to God. Whence the Sabbath? The su- 
pernaturalist still points to God. His theory gives the 
institution an adequate authorship. The day brings us 
forever into the presence of God. 

As the Sabbath dates back beyond Sinai to the very 
sources of history; as it is of God's appointment, not of 
man's invention ; and as it has never been abrogated, 
annulled, repealed; it will follow that it is binding upon 
all men in all time. It belongs, like the atonement, to 
world ideas and institutions. It cannot be limited to 
anyone nation, locality, age; but relates to all peoples, 
countries, times. It is as binding upon the Gentile as 
upon the Jew; upon the sceptic as upon the believer; 
upon the sinner as upon the saint. Instituted by the same 
divine fiat that gave Adam birth, it is as obligatory upon 
every one of his descendants as upon himself. It is this 
that makes its keeping a universal and unchangeable duty. 
If it were of man — a product of the human invention — 
it would be wholly wanting in authority. But as it is of 



172 THE SABBATH IN HISTORY. 

God — a law of nature — its obligation is universal and im- 
mutable ; it reports an immutable duty. 

There must forever be something awful and solemn in 
the thought that Sabbath keeping is binding on us; that 
we must account for our use of holy time ; that Sabbath- 
breakers must meet and answer the Sabbath-Maker. Anti- 
Christian demonstrations are, to-day, widely taking the 
form of Sabbath-breaking; greed robbing God of his 
reserved day, robbing toilers of needed rest, opening stores 
and saloons, and sending Sunday papers, steamboats, and 
railway trains to whirl through the day; and pleasure- 
seeking turning the day into a carnival, and flaring through 
it with parades, theatres, picnics, excursions, and b-»ll 
games. This is a terrible record ; yet we are accustomed 
to look on it with indifference; and many amuse them- 
selves with the idea that it does no harm. It is all done 
on the presumption that it will escape the divine notice, 
and so go unpunished. But what does inexorable History 
say ? An inevitable fate awaits all Sabbath-breaking. It 
works out its own punishment — physiological deterioration 
— thought degeneracy — moral depravation. It tinctures 
daily life ; achieves irreparable ruin ; and makes the social 
fabric a festering mass of rottenness. Man's sinful per- 
sonality asserts itself. Population loses its finer fiber, 
and grows debauched. Corruption of classes of men is by 
insidious agencies that modify the men themselves — mak- 
ing them lower and worse men. Sabbath-breakers meet 
Gud in history, and go down — down to the lower levels. 
In the presence of this cancer in American life — indiffer- 
entism is not allowable. Patriotism forbids it. Christi- 
anity forbids it. Hence this appeal to better thinking 
citizens to cease from all kinds of Sabbath desecration. 

God's Trinity of Reforming Agencies. 

The Bible, a special divine revelation, has as its lieuten- 
ants, the Sabbath and the Church ; a trinity of the mightiest 



god's trinity of reforming agencies. 173 

(forces that have left traces upon human society. The 
Bible, the Sabbath, the Church ! The Book, the Day, the 
Tent of meeting! What honor they have put upon man! 
What dignity ! What happiness ! They have starry 
names. In their train appear the best forms of civil law 
and social order — the humane agencies that regenerate and 
uplift society — and the highest and noblest types of man- 
hood and womanhood. They gave birth to Christianity, 
and were not born of it ; to Judaism, and were not born 
of it; to the ancient patriarchal religion, and were not 
born of it. Their forms change, but. their essences are 
eternal. The Bible, the Sabbath, the Church, like the rain, 
the sunbeam, and the atmosphere, are God's most precious 
gifts — are for all alike — are potent workers for human 
betterment. They make life purer, sweeter, happier. 
They are the organizing forces in all movements that build 
the best things for man. 1 All men and women who shut 
them out of their thoughts remain at their worst, commit 
the irreparable mistake, make life a failure. 

The Day is a need of the Sabbath and the Church — in- 
deed the lungs of the Book and the Tent of Meeting. 
They are all inter-dependent. The stream of Sabbatism — 
sweeping as a mighty tide through Time and History — is 
kept pure only as it flows out of the Bible and through 

1 " Christianity has given us the Sabbath, the Jubilee of the world, 
whose light dawns welcome alike into the closet of the philosopher, 
into the garret of toil, and into prison cells ; and everywhere suggests, 
even to the vile, the dignity of being " — Emerson. 

" The Church of God, the Book of God, and the Day of God, are a 
sacred trinity on earth, the chief pillars of Christian society and na- 
tional prosperity. Without them Europe and America would soon 
relapse into heathenism and barbarity." — Philip Shaff. 

"Of all divine institutions, the most divine is that which secures a 
day of rest for man. I hold it to be the most valuable blessing ever 
conceded to man. It is the corner-stone of civilization, and its fracture 
might even affect the health of the people." — D' Israeli in British 
Parliament. 



174 THE SABBATH IN HISTORY. 

the Church. It was so in Judaism. It is so in Christi- 
anity. The Sabbath, so ordered, gathers the tribes of 
Israel in temples to meditate on divine things; kindles 
fires of devotion on sacred altars ; and furnishes high op- 
portunity tor song, and prayer, and divine teaching. Ten- 
der and sweet are the memories of Sabbath worship — the 
hush of breathless stillness — hearts beating in rapture — 
unspoken aspirations — souls mounting heavenward — the 
Lord himself coming near and feasting his saints ! Such 
Sabbath-keeping is simple duty — something that we ought 
to do — because God commands it — and because it is best 
for us. Keeping the Sabbath makes God known, benefits 
the worshiper, promotes good morals, and regenerates 
society. And decline in Sabbath keeping is a sure token of 
religious decay, of waning morals, and of deteriorating 
character in the individual — the community — the nation. 

'Tis strange that the Day, a strong bulwark against im- 
morality and worldliness, a balance wheel of religious 
institutions, a necessity of Christianity, should have pro- 
nounced and bitter enemies. Yet there are many who not 
only rob God of the day, but speak big words against it. 
They oppose it because it does not suit their notions ; or 
because its holy rest is to them a weariness ; or because the 
Lord of the Sabbath is not their Lord. They array 
against it their most active forces; seize and occupy its 
outworks ; attack its walls and towers. Innovation follows 
innovation. Holy time is in peril. And the danger is 
not wholly from the attacking parties— Atheists, Liberal 
Leagues, Secularists, Seventh-day Sabbatarians — but also 
from the apathy of Sabbath defenders. The citadel of the 
Sabbath, if not betrayed from within, can never be suc- 
cessfully stormed from without. The massing of forces 
against the Day is not so alarming as the indifference of 
Sabbath -keepers within. They seem unmoved spectators 
of the eonflict, except as to a solitary sentinel here and 



god's trinity of reforming agencies. 175 

there upon the watch towers. This, not the attacks of 
outside foes — not the hurling of their combined forces 
against the bulwarks — is the chief danger. This awakens 
alarm. The defenders are not cowards — not traitors — but 
asleep — indifferent — insensible to the danger. O if they 
could only be awaked — startled from indifference — made 
to see the peril ! Rouse ye, Sabbath-keepers ! Man the 
walls. Guard the gates. Sally forth and attack the be- 
siegers. Let the cause take no default from your indiffer- 
ence. Hand the day on to posterity better, on its human 
side, than when it came to you. 

The Sabbath, walking the highways of history for six 
thousand years, sweeping between the eternities, assailed 
by puny man ! — the actor of an hour ! — a bubble upon 
the ocean of being ! Its abolition is impossible. The 
utmost the assailants can do is to lower the human inter- 
pretations of the day — to diminish its human uses — to lure 
individuals and communities from its Tent of blessings. 
They can wreck themselves and others but not the divine 
Sabbath. It is an important and an imperishable factor 
in the drama of the world. And in the long run woe ever 
betides the man, community, nation, that assails the day. 
Their deed works irreparable ruin, not to the Sabbath, but 
to themselves — strewing the shores of time with social and 
moral wrecks. The Sabbath of God standeth forever. It 
has "no variableness, neither shadow of turning." It is 
not a vanishing form. Time mutilates it not as it does 
inscriptions on tombs and monuments. It is indestructi- 
ble. Its name is written in God's Book of Life. 1 It is 
an Ark of God forever riding safely above all the tides of 
human passion ; sweeping steadily through time within 



1 " The Word and Power of the invisible, the unchangeable, and 
eternal God of the Sabbath, are our all-sufficient security that the in- 
stitution is to be universal in the world, and to endure forever."— 
Gilfiu.an. The Sabbath, 605. 



176 THE SABBATH IN HISTORY. 

hearing of wails of defeat and peans of victory ; aud 
showing always and everywhere the identify of an imper- 
ishable life. 

The Sabbath of the Bible stands as a prophet of an 
Eden to come, as well as a reminder of an Eden lost. It 
has not only come to us out of the distant past, but has 
the promise of an unending future. It was a heritage of 
man innocent ; is a heritage of man redeemed ; and will 
be a heritage of man glorified. As a law and need of our 
nature it is imperishable as the framework of the universe ; 
imperishable as ourselves ; imperishable as the Sabbatizing 
God. Sabbath-keeping will be eternal. The day of the 
Sabbath is to have no evening ; is a broad sunrise and 
illuminant without any setting. Its unending future 
stands assured in the Bible. " There remaineth therefore 
a rest " — the keeping of a Sabbath — " to the people of 
God." a This fairly means the identity of the heavenly 
with the earthly Sabbath. It means that the heavenly is 
the continuance and perfection of the earthly. It pre- 
announces a septenary Meeting Day for saints and angels 
in the Christ-preparing mansions. The worship begun 
on earth will be continued in heaven. Of this we have 
prophetic intimations. To each saint the Meeting Day 
will bring a communion life broader and deeper than his 
own — communion with all sainted ones — communion with 
the innumerable company of angels — communion with 
Jesus as the second Adam — communion with the all-loving 
Divine Father. There will not be wanting the high ex- 
hilaration of song, and sacred teaching, and worship. 
Amid such Sabbath scenes, all the best seeking of man 
will find its utmost realization. They all in that great 

*Heb. 4:9. 



! 



god's trinity of reforming agencies. 177 

company will be satisfied. " Of that great Sabbath, God 
grant me (reader and writer) that Sabbath sight ! " 1 

1 " Oh ! blissful world of the saints ! where all is holy place, and all 

holy time, even one eternal Sabbath." — Hakbaugh. Heavenly Homey 

330. 

" There congregations ne'er break up, 
And Sabbaths have no end." 

"Sabbathum Maximum non habens Vesperum." — The great Sabbath 
has no evening. — Augustine. Be Givitate Dei, Ch. 30. 

" As the full possession of providential blessings belongs only to the 
completeness of human obedience, it is probable that neither the natural 
results, nor the full knowledge of the Sabbath, have ever yet been 
enjoyed by the fallen race of mankind." — De. Groly. Divine Origin 
and Obliga. of the Sab., 3. 



THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 



"A Sabbath well spent brings a week of content, 
And strength tor the toils of the morrow ; 
But a Sabbiith profaned, whatever seems gained, 
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow." 

—A Motto of Matthew Hale. 



The adaptation of means to an end ranks among the 
higher tests of wisdom. The bird's wing was made for 
the atmosphere in which it flies ; the fish's fin for the water 
in which it swims; and the ball for the socket joint in 
which it moves. So the Sabbath suits man. It is an 
adjustment to his nature — to his needs — to his better un- 
folding. 1 It is a necessity alike to his own well-being and 
to his usefulness in society. It is not a mere happening, 
nor an arbitrary appointment, but a natural law. u The 
Sabbath was made for man." It lifts him to the higher 
pinnacles and possibilities of his life. It is a key to unlock 
the richer treasures of his nature. It is forever a benefi- 
cent landmark in the flowing tides of time and history. 
At Sabbath gates we form friendships and start the purer 
longings that always help us and seem to have no ending. 

There is in the incomprehensible nature of God some- 
thing on which Sabbatism is founded. He Sabbatized on 
account of something in himself — some divine need — 
some divine need of rest. And he appointed Sabbatism to 
man on account of something in man — some human need 
— some human need of rest. The human worker needs a 
seventh-day rest, just as the divine Worker needed and 

- 1 " The same Infinite wisdom that made food for the body, air for 
the lungs, light for the eye, beauty for the taste, and truth for the 
mind, made the Sabbath for man as a moral and religious being. It is 
a necessity for his soul and body." — Dr. J. O. Peck in Sabbath Essays. 

178 






THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 179 

took a seventh-day rest. This necessity in man is as 
changeless as the constitution of his nature. The Sabbath 
is not, therefore, an institution of a positive, limited, tem- 
porary character, but a natural and universal law — an im- 
mutable obligation. Its foundation, its ground-work, is 
laid deep in the bed rock of human need. 1 It is 
worthy of God, and suited to man. All this is shown 
in elaborate researches conducted by philologists, political 
economists, social reformers, philosophers, jurists, and 
statesmen. 

Man and beast are so constituted as to need rest periods. 
Nightly rest in sleep does not sufficiently restore wasted 
energy ; and God has provided further compensation in 
septenary rest days. These keep man and beast, neither 
of which can sustain incessant labor, from being over- 
wrought. The wearied powers and wasted tissues are re- 
paired and toned up. Strength is renewed ; health pre- 
served ; life prolonged. 2 Were there no God— no im- 

1 " Eternal in the constitution of man is the necessity for the existence 
of a day of rest." — F. W. Robertson. 

" Proudhon has recently treated on it from the national economy 
point of view, and he has come to the conclusion that the proportion 
of the six days of work to the one of judicious rest is one of manifest 
wisdom and of great blessing to man." — The Inter. Cyclo., Art. Sabbath. 

"All men of whatsoever class, who must necessarily be occupied six 
days in the week, should abstain on the seventh, and in the course of 
life would assuredly be giving to their bodies the repose, and to their 
minds the change of ideas, suited to the day for which it was appointed 
by unerring wisdom." — J. R. Farre, M. D. Report of Sab. Com. of 
House of Commons, (1832,) p. 119. 

2 "Although the night apparently equalizes the circulation, yet it 
does not sufficiently restore its balance for the attainment of a long life 
— hence one day in seven, by the bounty of Providence is thrown in as 
a day of compensation to perfect, by its repose, the animal system. — 
Dr. J. R. Farre. Com. House of Commons, (1832,) 116. 

" Under the due observance of Sabbath, life would, on the average, 
be prolonged more than one-seventh of its whole period ; that is more 
than 7 years in 50."— -Dr. Mussey. Of Ohio Medical College. 



180 THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 

mortality — no future state of rewards and punishments- 
man, as he is to-day, would still need the Sabbath. The 
weekly period of six day's work and one day's rest is 
founded in his very constitution. 

The Sabbath a Physical Need. 

The law of a weekly rest-day is written all over the 
human body, an elaborate, muscular, nervous machine, that 
cannot endure continuous strain, but needs halting and re- 
pairing seasons. Unremitting toil, no pause to hurrying 
hands and feet, would break down the strongest constitu- 
tion, destroy health, and prematurely age men and women. 1 
It would tame giant strength, extinguish mirth and 
laughter, and fill the world with weariness. The human 
machine would soon wear out. This imbruting power of 
continuous toil — this weariness attending incessant effort — 
is relieved by Sabbath rests. The Sabbath is a physical 
necessity. It descends with refreshing breezes to un- 
fathomable depths in man. It liberates the toiler from 
unending labor. It breaks up time into sections; 
establishes regular breathing spaces ; and ministers to 
bodily health and vigor. A septenary rest is beneficial 
even to the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. It is a greater 
need in the realm of animal life. Men and beasts of bur- 
den, it has been proven a thousand times, can do more and 

1 u Let us observe Sunday in the name of Hygiene, if not in the name 
of religion.' ' — Michel Cheralin. French Political Economist. 

" It is unreasonable as inhuman to work beyond six days weekly."— • 
Humboldt. 

" It is a law of God, established in our physical constitution, that 
demands rest as often as one day in seven. Any infringement upon that 
law weakens the constitution and lowers the Physical and moral tone 
of the being."— Dr. Henry Foster, of Clifton Springs. 

44 The Sabbatical appointment .... is to be numbered among the 
natural duties, if preservation of life be admitted to be a duty, and the 
premature destruction of it a suicidal act. This is simply said as a 
Physician, and without reference at all to the theological question.' ' — 
Dr. J. E. Farre. Com. House Commons, 1832. 



THE SABBATH A PHYSICAL NEED. 181 

better work in six days out of seven, than by working con- 
tinuously through the seven. Sabbath- keepers are fresher 
for the toils of secular days. Holy time well used is 
beneficent to the body. It is a central and chief conserva- 
tor of health. 1 



1 " A day of rest from bodily toil, both for man and beast, is not only 
desirable but indispensable." — An Anti-Sab. Conv. in Boston, 1840. 

^ "Will men who labor six days in the week be more healthy, and 
live longer, other things being equal, than those who labor seven? 
Will they do more work, and do it in a better manner?" — The New 
Haven Med. Asso. — 25 Physicians — unanimously voted "Aye." 

A Committee of the Pennsylvania Leg ; slature, in a report made in 
1839, endorsed this statement : u That man and beast can do more and 
better work by resting one day in seven than by working the whole 
seven." 

Bienconi, car proprietor in Ireland, owning 1,400 horses, would 
never employ them on the Sabbath. He began life as an organ-grinder, 
but prospered by reverent observance of the Day of Eest. He said : 
11 1 can work a horse 8 miles a day for six days in the week much better 
than I can 6 miles a day for seven days in the week. By not working 
on Sunday I save at least twelve per cent." — From Leaflet. How to 
get on. 

" The Sabbath must be observed as a day of rest. This I do not 
state as an opinion, but knowing that it has its foundation upon a law 
in man's nature as fixed as that he must take food or die." — Dr. 
Wileard Parker. 

" The observance of a weekly rest-day, is now very widely held to 
have a natural basis in the constitution of man. The persistency with 
which such an institution has been maintained for many ages among 
Jews, Christians, Mohammedans, and even some Pagan nations, 
supports this view." — Johnston's Univer. Cyc. Art. Sab. 

"Of course I do not mean that a man will not produce more in a 
week by working seven days than by working six days. But I very 
much doubt whether, at the end of the year, he will have produced 
more by working seven days in a week than by working six days in a 
week. The natural difference between Campania and Spitzbergen is 
trifling when compared with the difference between a country inhabited 
by men full of bodily and mental vigor, and a country inhabited by 
men sunk in bodily and mental decrepitude. Therefore it is that we 
are not poorer, but richer, because we have through many ages rested 
from our labor one day in seven. The day is not lost. While industry 
is suspended, while the plow lies in the furrow, while the exchange is 
silent, while no smoke ascends from the factory, a process is going on 
quite as important to the wealth of the nation as the work which is 
performed on more busy days. Man, the machine of machines — the 
machine compared with which all the contrivances of the Watts and 
Arkwrights are worthless — is repairing'and winding up, so that he re- 
turns to his labors on the Monday with clearer intellect, with livelier 
spirits, with renewed corporal vigor." — Lord Macaulay. 



182 THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 

Physical toilers have a deep and abiding interest in 
maintaining the Sabbath. What would they be without 
it ? How would they resist the aggressive claims of greed ? 
It is the poor man's day. It makes him happier by mak- 
ing him better — by repairing his wasted forces — by bring- 
ing him new equipments of resolution and strength. It 
is appointed for the rest and refreshment of men and 
women spent with toil. It blesses our toiling and care- 
worn world. 1 O toiler of the hand, stand by the Sabbath ; 
maintain its sacred character ; and keep it running by the 
door of thy workshop and thy home. It enriches, not 
impoverishes. Sabbath keeping and poverty do not usu- 
ally live long together ; for poverty gets turned out of 
doors. Sabbath rest is a prospering as well as a relieving 
angel in the path of toil. 2 

1 "The observance of the Sabbath contributes to human happiness. 
Unremitting toil breaks down and humbles the strongest intellects." — 
Matthew Hale. 

"Hail, Sabbath, thee I hail, the poor man's day."— Graham. 
"The best friend of the poor man is his weekly day of rest." — Mo- 
ses D. Hoge, D. D. 

2 " I am satisfied that the six days are the really true, fit, and ade- 
quate measure of time for work, whether as respects the physical 
strength of man, or his perseverance in uniform occupation. There is 
also something humane in the arrangement by which those animals 
that assist man in his work enjoy that rest along with him." — Hum- 
boldt, in letter to a friend, 1850. 

A mine boss at Stockton, Cal., says in a letter in California Christian 
Advocate : " When I close the mine on Sabbath regularly, I get a bet- 
ter class of workmen, moral and religious. They do as much work in 
six days as most others do in seven, take it month in and month out. 
Then there is no quarreling, no fighting, no drunkenness. The em- 
ployes feel an interest in the work. It is money in our pockets to shut 
down, on Sabbaths" 

"My neighbors said I would starve if I became a Christian, for I 
would not be allowed to do any work on Sundays; and that if I did 
really embrace Christianity they would never give me any more work. 
These statements startled me at first, and I scarcely knew what to do. 
But, after thinking over the matter, 1 concluded that God would take 
care of me if I sincerely tried to obey his will. I embraced these doc- 
trines and became a Christian ; and now what is the result? Why, 
with regard to keeping the Sabbath, I find that I now do more work 
in six days than I formerly did in seven ; and, with regard to losing 
my business, I never had as much work in my life as I have had since 
I became a Christian." — Li Yu Ml. A converted Methodist black- 
smith in China. 






the sabbath a spiritual need. 183 

The Sabbath a Spiritual Need. 

The law of a weekly rest is written all over the human 
soul, a celestial tenant in a perishable body, and wearing 
upon itself the impress and the image of God. The soul, 
like its divine Author, seems indeed tireless, incapable of 
weariness, susceptible of endless on-going ; and yet, even 
as He, it needs rest-periods, a change of activities, the 
relief of other pursuits. This is a law of the soul. It 
needs rest-periods for feeding — for right training — for 
better unfolding. The Sabbath brings the needed weekly 
rest.' And its sunlight is as much for the man clothed in 
rags as for the man wearing purple. 

A desecration of the day sends men down to the lower 
spiritual levels. Sabbathless souls grow feeble, gaunt, 
shriveled ; become secularized ; forget their origin and 
end. A lusty and vigorous soul life, without rest-periods 
for feeding on soul food, is not known to history. The 
shores of time as they keep lengthening out, are every- 
where strewn with soul-wrecks, many of them dashed to 
pieces on the rocks of Sabbath-breaking. Peril attends a 
desecration of the day. Selfishness is enthroned. Con- 
science is trodden under foot. Life's great forces are 
misused in seeking the special gratification of the lower 
and animal passions and appetites. 1 

1 " Whenever a nation ceases to keep this (Sabbath) commandment, 
Christianity ceases to exist. There would then be an end to domestic 
life, to family ties ; and civilization would soon be succeeded by bar- 
barism." — Baron Augustine Cauchy, Member of French Institute. 

"It is not to be doubted that, if the public teaching of religion on 
the Sabbath were once dropped among us, the generality of the people, 
whatever else might be done to obviate it, would, in seven years, re- 
lapse into as bad a state of barbarity as was ever in practice among the 
most of our Saxon or Danish ancestors." — Dean Prideaux. 

" I am more and more sure by experience that the reason for the 
observance of the Sabbath lies deep in the everlasting necessities of 
human nature, and that, as long as man is man, the blessedness of 
keeping it not as a day of rest only, but as a day of spiritual rest, will 
never be annulled. ... I certainly do feel by experience the 
eternal obligation, because of the eternal necessity, of the Sabbath. 
The soul withers without it ; and thrives in proportion to the fidelity 
of its observance."— F. W. Robertson. Life, 248. 



184 THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 

Sabbath-keeping sends men up to the higher spiritual 
levels. The educating power of the day cannot be told. 
It is the throne of religion. It is the treasure house of 
noble sentiments. It wears an imperial crown in the realm 
of spiritual forces. It is a star that outshines the sun, and 
never sets. It fills vast cathedrals with symphonies sweet 
and divine, checks secularizing tendencies, and gives 
heavenward uplifts. Prayers, sacred songs, pure teachings 
report and measure the impulses that it communicates to 
human improvement. It ministers to soul growth, creates 
the best civilization, and makes the purest types of men — 
philanthropists — missionaries — founders of schools and 
churches — promoters of all moral reforms. We are 
fanned and refreshed by the balmy breezes of holy day. 

All who wish man to reach his best — to see the higher 
and better side of his nature called out — to see community 
in its purest forms — have a deep and abiding interest in 
maintaining the Sabbath. It is an Atlas on whose mighty 
shoulders rests our moral and spiritual well-being. The 
best in us is called out whenever the day is duly honored. 
O toiler in fields of human improvement, keep and main- 
tain holy time. The soul needs it. It is a moral necessity. 
It is a balance wheel of the days, preserving and promoting 
all that is best in man. We cannot fight well the soul 
battles of the week without the rest and refreshment that 
come from the Sabbath pause. 

The Sabbath an Intellectual Need. 

The law of a weekly rest is also written all over the 
mind, our thinking selfhood ; link between soul and body ; 
partaker of both natures. 

Body-like, the mind needs a seventh-day rest. Incessant 
mental strain breaks down the strongest intellect ; or pal- 
sies its faculties ; or rasps and wears it out. The brain, 
overtaxed with unremitting toil, loses its brightness and 



THE SABBATH AN INTELLECTUAL NEED. 185 

sinks into idiocy. Men of affairs, who carry business cares 
and perplexities into the Sabbath, are walking not far from 
the precipice of insanity — of suicide. 1 The brain forever 
plodding — the mind forever scheming — has no desirable 
outlook. Sabbath rest is needed to prevent utter impair- 
ment ; to recruit wasted brain forces; to re-invigorate 
wearied mental energies; to rekindle, in a word, the 
slumbering fires of brain and mind. The dav is the gift 
of the God of love. It is fitted for mental rest and 
refreshment. 

Soul-like also, the mind needs a seventh-day rest. The 
mind indeed thinks, as the heart beats, or as the lungs 
breathe, unconsciously and necessarily. But to select and 
dwell upon given trains of ideas is its high endowment; 
to change to new trains of thought; to revel in new men- 
tal visions. Sabbath rest brings such change — changed 
pursuits — changed companions — changed ideas. Sabbath 
keepers walk in a new world and under new skies. The 
currents of thought flow on, unconsciously, but in new 
channels. This not only prevents an unbalancing of the 
mental forces, but refreshes and strengthens them. It 

1 Sir Samuel Romilly, Solicitor General of England under Fox's 
administration, a severe worker seven days in the week, lost his rea- 
son, and suicided, Nov. 2, 1818. A little later, Lord Castlereagh, alike 
a seven-day worker, also suicided. Wilberforce, writing of this sad 
event to a friend, said: "If he had suffered his mind to enjoy such 
occasional remission — Sunday rests — it is highly probable that the 
strings of life would never have snapped from over-tension." The 
Standard, London, contrasting them with another Englishman of the 
(j a y — Si r Robert Peel — said : 

"Sir Kobert does not work seven days in the week — full assurance 
that his work will not impair his health. Every Sunday finds him on 
his knees at public worship, with his family about him. We never 
knew a man to work seven days in the week, who did not kill himself, 
or kill his mind. We believe that the dull English Sunday, as it is 
stigmatized by fribbles and by fools, is the principal cause of the su- 
perior health and longevity of the English people.'' 



186 THE SABBATH A NATURAL LAW. 

repairs and tones up both brain and mind. It renews 
their health and vigor. 1 It dispenses light — intelligence — 
ideas. Thus the law of a seventh-day rest is written, by 
God's finger, upon all the tablets of the mind. I he day 
is needed for mental building. It is a mental necessity. 
It recruits the mental frame, and keeps it in a happy 
equilibrium. 

To many working people, a seventh-day rest is the only 
real home day; to get acquainted with their families; to 
train their children. It brings them special opportunity 
for mental culture. It brings such opportunity to all — 
to the individual — to community. O toiler after intel- 
lectual improvement, take good care of the weekly holy 
day. Preserve and perpetuate it in history. Keep it as a 
necessity in society. The day shows its training on all 
Sabbath keepers. They are not ignorant and barbarous. 
They are torch- bearers along the shores of time. Keeping 

1 "Brain as well as brawn needs the tonic of Sabbath rest." — Sab. 
for Man, 205. 

'* I never knew a man to escape failure in either body or mind, who 
worked seven days in the week/'— Sir Robert Peel. 

" Those artists who wrought on Sunday were soon disqualified from 
working at all/' — Sir David Wilkie. 

" My own experience is very strong as to the importance of the 
complete rest and change of thought once in the week." — Dr. Car- 
penter. 

"To the studious especially, and whether younger or older, a Sab- 
bath well spent— spent in happy exercises of the heart, devotional and 
domestic— a Sunday given to the soul, is the best of all means of re- 
freshment to the intellect." — Isaac Taylor. 

"The Sabbath is God's best boon to the workingman, not only to the 
one that works with his hands, but also to the one that works with his 
brain." — Bishop Fellows. 

" Your petitioners, from their acquaintance with the laboring 
classes, and with the laws that regulate the human economy, are con- 
vinced that a seventh day of rest, instituted by God, and coeval with 
the creation of man, is essential to the bodily health and mental vigor 
of men in every station in life." — Memorial of 641 London Physicians 
to Parliament in 1853. 



I 



THE SABBATH AN INTELLECTUAL NEED. 187 

the day pays a high per cent, of interest in the way of 
intellectual improvement. 1 

Thus the Sabbath law is written upon man's whole 
nature forever — upon his body, soul, mind. It is written 
all over ourselves, our families, our helpers, our animals. 
It is too far-reaching, too beneficent in its results to be a 
contrivance of man. It is prescribed, not by physicians, 
moralists, political economists, or lawgivers — all wanting 
in the sufficient wisdom and authority — but by authority 
so divine and high as not to be contested, and with such 
sanctions as may well overawe us. It is a divine not a 
human institution. And it is founded by our Creator, not 
in the periodic revolutions of our solar system — not in the 
changes of the moon — but in the nature of man — in deep 
and abiding human needs. It is one of the natural laws 
— God's great thoughts by which he regulates and rules 
the world — that enswathe us, saturate us ; fiil the Empy- 
rean above us, around us, beneath us; and color all that 
is within us. It is indestructible. No power can blot it 
from history. It stands on foundations as firm and en- 
during as the overarching skies. There it has stood while 
the centuries have piled up around it, and generations of 
men have swept by. The storms on the ocean touch but 
its surface ; in its depths is eternal calm. So too in the 
Sabbath is the calm of the eternal God ; it is but its sur- 
face that is ruffled with human passions. 

1 " It is needed by all the toiling millions of earth. To the laborer 
it is a boon of priceless value, and to the professional man, a'nd the 
man of business, with nerve and brain strained to the utmost tension, 
it comes as a benediction indeed ; to the Christian it is indispensable. 
All classes need the physical and moral recuperation it brings.'' — Pas- 
toral Address at Centennial Methodist Conference. 

"The longer I live, the more highly do I estimate the Christian 
Sabbath ; and the more grateful do I feel towards those who impress 
its importance on community.'' — D. Webster. Harvey's Reminiscences, 
383. 



SUNDAY AND THE' STATE. 



To-day on weary nations 
The heavenly manna falls 

To holy convocations 

The silver trumpet calls." 

Wordsworth. 



My task approaches its ending. The Sabbath of the 
Bible — wonderful day ! — is now before the reader. It 
needs a sequel. The Sabbath as Sunday — or Sunday and 
the State — invites a word. Some mere briefs on this 
theme — fragmentary paragraphs— simple suggestions ot the 
larger and better things that might be said — will be given, 
also an appendix, and then this Sabbath pen be laid aside. 

Society, like its constituent members, men and women, 
has a natural right to a seventh-day rest ; just as it has a 
right to property, or to maintain justice, or to establish 
laws. The right is divine as well as natural It springs 
from the right to live-— to preserve its own life — to care 
for its own well-being. It has the right to adopt such 
measures as will secure its stability and safety. 

The State — society organized for its own better ordering 
and safety — needs a seventh-day rest, even as its citizens 
need it. It is what. its citizens are — what they put into it 
— what they make it. It partakes of their excellencies, 
and equally of their defects. As they are, so is it. As 
they are bettered by a seventh -day rest, the State shares in 
the betterment; and as they are injured by its desecration, 
the State shares in the damage. Whatever tends, there- 
fore, to disturb a seventh-day rest, or to impair its efficiency, 
is a foe to the State. 

188 






the state a keeper of sunday. 189 

The State a Keeper of Sunday. 

As the State, even like its citizens, needs a seventh-clay 
rest, it should itself keep Sunday. It is a moral person, 
and should observe rest periods. It is of conspicuous in- 
fluence, and, among its duties and obligations, is that of 
setting a good example in keeping the weekly day of rest. 
All work on that day should be laid aside. Its whole 
machinery of government should be given pause — its 
military and naval movements — its affairs of state — its 
postal matters. The reason for this is that the law of a 
seventh-day rest is broadly written upon all its agents and 
employes. The Sunday of the State is not based upon the 
religious Sabbath, but upon the law in man's nature. A 
seventh-day resting State, like the Creator taking a seventh- 
day rest when creation-work was ended, would be con- 
forming to a universal natural law ; and it would be 
making itself a wholesome example of that law. But this 
is the ideal, not the real — the possible, not the actual — 
State. Our Government approaches, but does not attain, 
this ideal. 1 

Union of Church and State is happily un-American. 
Their divorce was pronounced by the founders of the 
Republic, and the decree incorporated in the organic law 
— in the First Amendment to the National Constitu- 
tion. 2 That instrument inhibits Congress from " estab- 
lishing religion," and also from prohibiting "the free 
exercise thereof." This certainly, inhibits it, among 
other things, from invading the Sabbath, the great day of 

1<( There is no religion without worship, and no worship without the 
Sabbath." — Montalembert. 

" Where there is no Christian Sabbath, there is no Christian moral- 
ity ; and without this free institutions can not long be continued." — 
Justice McLean in Sab. Asso. Reports. 

2 National Constitution — First Amendment. — " Congress shall make 
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or to prohibit the free 
exercise thereof" 



190 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

religion — from organizing Sunday work. Sunday laws 
and regulations are not a function of Congress. They are 
reserved to the States. The States, not the Federal 
Government, have the Sunday realm under their control. 
Yet Congress, in direct violation of the National Constitu- 
tion, has attempted, and has organized, Sunday work. 
Some attempts were failures. The House of Representa- 
tive, May 12, and July 8, 1838, attempted to protract its 
Saturday sessions into Sunday morning. This was resisted 
by many members. The Speaker's casting vote defeated 
the motion to adjourn. Then many members declared that 
they would leave the House, and that no authority existed 
to compel their attendance on the Lord's day. The House, 
both days, had to adjourn. But Congress has succeeded 
in desecrating the great rest-day of religion, by authorizing 
the carrying and delivery of Sundry mails. Sunday de- 
livery was authorized by Act of Congress, April 30, 
1810. l This, at the time, was claimed to be unconstitu- 
tional. It was not, however, and has not been, tested in 
the Courts. But its unconstitutionality is obvious. It is 
not a prerogative of Congress to organize Sunday work. 
The Act, as to Sunday employes, interferes with their 
" free exercise " of religion ; and Congress is by the Con- 
stitution inhibited from that. A beginning wrong makes 
possible and necessitates other wrongs. That initial in- 
fraction of the Constitution has issued in the whole Sun- 
day mail system of the United States — its " expedited" 
Sunday mails — its Sunday carriers — all without warrant 
in the National Constitution. Our postal arrangements 
make Sunday widely a day of labor. The justification of 

1 Act of Congress, April 30, 1810.— " It shall be the duty of the 
postmaster at all reasonable hours, on every day of the week, to deliver, 
on demand, any letter, or paper, or packet, to the person entitled to, or 
authorized to receive, the same." 

Sunday opening of mails: In United States 1 hour; in Great 
Britain 2 hours ; in Switzerland 4 hours ; in France all day. — Sabbath 
for Man, 500. 






THE STATE AND SUNDAY LAWS. 191 

all this is in some supposed convenience, or necessity, in the 
way of business. Yet London and Toronto have no 
Sunday mails. No stagnation of business follows. 

Our Federal Government, in its postal regulations, vio- 
lates a great natural law, as well as the National Consti- 
tution. This is an infinitely more serious offense. It 
drives roughshod over the septenary law of rest — a law of 
nature — a universal and immutable institution. It violates 
this law in itself. It sets a bad example. And it addi- 
tionally violates the natural rights of about eight hundred 
thousand employes to a seventh-day rest — makes them 
Sunday toilers — not by their own wish — but requiring 
them to work on Sunday, or forfeit their places. The 
tendency is to have the Sunday employes secularized — live 
without religion — with little thought of their origin and 
end — dropping into a grosser nature — dragging the State 
down with them. This is a wrong — a wrong to the Gov- 
ernment — a wrong to the employes. A bad example is set. 
The measure is in every way harmful. And it is not 
needed in this age winch is demanding reduced hours of 
daily labor. Six days' work and one day's rest is a physi- 
ological law out of which society should not pass. 

The State and Sunday Laws. 

As the State, like its citizens, needs a seventh-day rest> 
it should not only keep the day itself, but it should make 
provision for its keeping throughout all its domain. The 
enforcement of Sunday as Sabbath — as a day for religion 
— is not of man but of God. But its enforcement as a 
natural law — as a day of rest from work — may be by man 
as well as by God — by society — by the State. The divine 
law of a seventh-day rest constrains man — society — nations. 
The State, in its own proper sphere, and in its own proper 
behoof, should unite in the constraining Act. It should 
frame and maintain a seventh-day rest by law. This is a 



192 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

legitimate function of the State, and just so far as such 
rest may help to make better citizens and more stable civil 
institutions. 1 It has divine sanction. The Jews, under 
God's supervision, interpreted and enforced the law of a 
seventh-day rest. It has also historic supports. All 
Christian nations have had Sunday laws; some stricter; 
some looser. Departures from this divine arrangement 
and from these historic models would be experimental and 
perilous. Abuse of law would issue in wider licentious- 
ness. Sunday laws are both a need and a duty of the State. 
This is hardly debatable ground. And yet an irrepressible 
conflict forever rages between the friends and the foes of 
Sunday legislation; Seventh day Sabbatarians exceeding 
even sceptics and the dangerous classes in the fierceness of 
their assaults on Sunday laws. This contention is not for 
the enforcement of the Sabbath — requiring church attend- 
ance — prescribing and enforcing some particular form of 
religion — making citizens religious. It is for the enforce- 
ment of Sunday — stilling business — maintaining quiet — rul- 
ing out noisy parades — prohibiting the blare of marching 
bands. This Sunday is not the Sabbath — not at all a 
religious institution — not even based on religious grounds. 
It is based upon an immutable natural law — the human 
need of a seventh day rest. This physiological necessity 
justifies Sunday legislation. So far as political action can 
settle anything this question is settled. Man, the citizen, 

1 " There is abundant justification of our Sabbath laws, regarding 
them as a mere civil institution, which they are ; and he is no friend 
to the good order and welfare of society, who would break them down, 
or who himself sets an example of disobedience to them. They appeal 
to each citizen as a patriot, as an orderly member of the community, 
and as a well-wisher of his fellow-men, to uphold them with his influ- 
ence, and to show respect for them by his conduct and example."— 
Justice Strong in The Eights of the People to the Sunday Rest. 

"The civil as based on the religious Sabbath is an institution to 
which society has a natural right, precisely as it has to property. ,, — 
Mark Hopkins in The Sab. and Free Institutions. 



I 



THE STATE AND SUNDAY LAWS. 193 

has imperative need of Sunday rest; and the State should 
secure it to him. 1 

Its own well-being also obliges the State to establish and 
maintain a seventh-day rest from labor. Public as well as 
private virtues cluster about a quiet Sunday. It is an 
essential need of a free Commonwealth. The State 
needs healthy not infirm citizens ; and sociologists call 
Sunday rest a Sanitarium to all six- day toilers. The 
hygiene of Moses, pivoted upon a seventh-day rest, has 
never been surpassed. The State needs intelligent not 
illiterate citizens; and Sunday rest is a school day of no 
mean moment to all six-day toilers. It needs moral not 

1 " The Sabbath, as a political institution, is of inestimable value, in- 
dependently ot its claims to divine authority." — Adam Smith, as 
quoted in Memoirs of Sir John Sinclair. 

"The State as well as the individual is indebted to the Sabbath." — 
Five Problems of State and Religion, 45. 

"Besides the notorious indecency and scandal of permitting any sec- 
ular business to be publicly transacted on that day, in a country pro- 
fessing Christianity, and the corruption of morals that usually follows 
its profanation, the keeping of one day in seven holy, as a time of 
relaxation and refreshment, as well as for public worship, is of admir- 
able service to the State, considered merely as a civil institution." — 
Blackstock. Commentaries. B. 4, 0. 63, 

" I wish to testify my belief, that the individual custom of our 
fathers, in remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the conse- 
crator of their Christian religion, is the foundation of our political 
system, and the only hope of American freedom, progress, and glory." 
— John Randolph Tucker in Eights of the People to Sunday Best. 

" The first settlers of this country were a body of select men. They 
were profoundly impressed by the conviction that a weekly Sabbath 
was essential to the highest welfare of the communities which they 
established, and they therefore enacted laws to enforce a proper ob- 
servance of that day. It was not more upon theological considerations 
than it was upon secular and social that they framed those laws, and 
enforced strict obedience to them. The Sabbath so observed, no one 
can doubt, contributed largely to the formation of lhat character which 
has stood us in so much stead in our own history, and which has been 
the admiration of the world. ,) — Hon. Wm. Strong. Justice U. S. Su- 
preme Court. 



194 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

vicious citizens ; and Sunday rest is a very Bethesda for 
the moral purifying of all six-day toilers. Thus Sunday 
rest helps the Nation as well as the church, and is there- 
fore entitled to National protection and support. 

There is also a vital connection between a weekly rest 
day and free institutions. The area of representative and 
popular government is strangely coincident with the area 
of the stricter Sunday laws. It is not a mere happening 
that all nations, having a really stable popular government, 
are known as Sabbatarians — as the United States, England, 
Scotland, Canada, and Switzerland. Here is about the 
whole territory of popular freedom. Liberty and safety 
seem everywhere directly proportioned to firm Sunday 
laws. 1 A weekly rest is therefore an essential need in our 

1 " Every day's observation and experience confirms the opinion 
that the ordinances which require the observance of one day in seven, 
and the Christian faith which hallows it, are onr chief security for all 
civil and religious liberty, for temporal blessings and spiritual hopes. " 
— Wm. L. Seward. Letter to Sab. Conven., July 20, 1842. 

"I am no fanatic, I hope, as to Sunday ; but I look abroad over the 
map of popular freedom in the world, and it does not seem to me acci- 
dental that Switzerland, Scotland, England, and the United States, the 
countries which best observe Sunday, constitute almost the entire map 
of safe popular government." —Joseph Cook. 

"What Sabbath observing nation, it has been asked, has ever been 
barbarous or ignorant ? The lands of the Sabbath and of the Bible have 
always been the chosen abodes of knowledge and the lights of the 
earth. The Jews were in the possession of a literature when darkness 
covered all other people. Every nation that received the Gospel and 
the Christian Sabbath found them to be the elements of learning and 
civilization. "— Gilfill, an. The Sabbath, 190. 

" The religious character of an institution so ancient, so sacred, so 
lawful, and so necessary to the peace and comfort and the respectability 
of society, ought alone to suffice for its protection ; but, thiH failing, 
surely the laws of the land made for its account ought to be a^s strictly 
enforced as the laws for the protection of person and property. Vice 
and crime are always progressive and cumulative, li the Sun/lay laws 
be neglected, the laws of person and propert}' will soon share their 
fate, and be equally disregarded." — Attorney-General Bates. 



INVASIONS OF SUNDAY LAWS. 195 

national life, The State, like the individual, is a debtor 
to Sunday rest, has important ends to gain from it ; and it 
owes it to itself to maintain and preserve the day. 

Invasions of Sunday Laws. 

Sunday laws, in our Republic, are a function of the 
States, not of the Federal Government; are on the statute 
books of every State but one ; and are political not religious 
measures. They have no religious intent. They but assure 
Sunday quiet; stilling the pulse of industry; and treating 
noisy demonstrations as a nuisance. This, with some ear- 
lier exceptions, has been, and is, our American Sunday. And 
it has been a potent factor in forming the American nation. 
The uplift and power of Sunday rest is under every Amer- 
ican home ; under the Sabbath-keeper's home ; under the 
Sabbath-breaker's home. It has helped to make the Amer- 
ican home what it is, and still has in its soil the seeds of a 
National Millennium. For Sunday rest is of value to the 
State even as to the church — to public morals even as to 
Christianity. But'this time-honored Sunday of our fathers 
is now in peril. Our own, like every age, is witnessing 
invasion of Sunday laws. 

Our Sunday laws are invaded and imperilled by latitud- 
inarian views — by low and loose Sunday notions. They 
are characterized and denounced as a Judaistic superstition 
— as blue laws — as restricting personal liberty — as un- 
friendly to freedom of conscience. The assailants are 
many and various. They would strike down all Sunday 
laws. Some of them kindly allow God to make laws for 
the day, but not man. They stigmatize existing Sunday 
laws as Puritanical ; or calumniate them that they may 
secure their repeal ; or call for legislation so loose that it 
would be reactionary and revolutionary. They persistently 
cry: "Sunday is out of date ; was made for another age 
and people ; abridges human happiness ; and its mission 



196 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

is at an end." This outcry is made chiefly by the vicious 
classes ; by saloonists, libertines, Anarchists ; promoters of 
all licentiousness; corrupters of social life; subverters of 
States. Its authors are not known as builders of schools 
and churches; as founders of stable institutions; as crea- 
tors of desirable civilizations. Yet the outcry receives 
support — and in this is its danger — from other classes in 
society ;' from owners and managers of Sunday-breaking 
agencies ; from the foes of Christianity ; and from the 
small body of Seventh-day Sabbatarians. These loose and 
low Sunday ideas and policies are without support in reason 
— in history — in the field ot human needs. They are 
confronted and opposed, not merely by the teachings of 
Revelation, but by the findings of all true science. 
Sociologists, physiologists, humanitarians, political econo- 
mists, jurists, statesmen, and physicians, all unite in pro- 
nouncing a seventh-day rest a need of man — a need of man 
in society as well as of man the individual — a law of his 
nature — and enforced by the highest considerations, physi- 
cal, intellectual, and moral. The proofs, as already given, 
are abundant, complete, convincing. This is the true 
Sunday theory, as opposed to the lower and loose views of 
the dangerous classes. It will win the day, which meets 
an abiding human need. It will prevail. The universality 
of its empire, like that of truth over error, is only a question 
of time. Happy are all they who fight its battles, and 
help it on to victory. 

The looser and lower Sunday views, when weighed in 
the scales of time and history, are always found wanting. 
Sundayless communities are not happier for their destitu- 
tion, and never attain to empire and influence. The 
stricter notions and observances of the day, judged by 
results, are approved. They have upon their brow the 
verdict of success. To stricter Sunday-keeping is largely 
due the wonderful progress of English-speaking peoples; 



INVASIONS OF SUNDAY LAWS. 197 

the like wonderful progress of the Protestant nations ; and 
the diffusion of the clearest lights of science. It is the 
stricter Sunday-keeping peoples that, in modern history, 
are inarching at the head of nations — grasping empires — 
wielding regal influence. Our own Republic is an example. 
Our stricter American Sunday is no experiment. It reaches 
down to us out of the past. It has stood the tests of time 
and history; has given tone and fiber to the people; and 
has been a potent factor in molding the hardy life and 
character of the Republic. All history, indeed, bids us 
have high rather than low Sunday views — strict rather 
than loose Sunday laws. 

Our Sunday laws are invaded and imperilled by social 
carousals; turning the day into a holiday. Working 
people, it is claimed, need recreation in parks and pleasure 
grounds — excursions to rural districts — and so coaches, 
steamboats, and railway trains turn the day into a carnival. 
These social carousals, like drink-dens, beer-gardens, thea- 
tres, and concerts, are relentless Sunday foes, and rob the 
people of needed rest. This holiday Sunday is an exotic 
— an immigrant from abroad — a transplant from Europe. 
It is German rather than American; from the banks of the 
Rhine rather than from the banks of the Ohio. It comes 
from old-world usages now widely overrunning and threat- 
ening our purer American customs. It is foreigners chiefly 
who are leaders in Sunday parades, Sunday concerts, Sun- 
day saloons and beer-gardens; trampling under foot our 
Sunday laws; defying the government that gives them 
protection. And, under the mantle of their lawlessness, 
connived at by municipal authorities, young America is 
engaging in Sunday picnics and base-ball games. The evil is 
still further multiplied by summer resorts and camp-meetings 
with open Sunday gates. These are not the weakest de- 
vices of the Devil. Idling and pleasure seeking in holy 
time bring no real rest. Sunday lawlessness is always a 



198 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

menace to the purer civil institutions — a wide and active 
demoralizer — a festering sore on the body politic. It takes 
into insatiate maws money, health and morals. 1 

Sunday, as a holiday, pulls down the State as well as the 
church — demoralizes the people as well as corrupts Chris- 
tianity. The Republic is taking from it irreparable dam- 
age. Its fiber, especially in city centers, is growing coarser 
in direct proportion as its old-time Sunday sinks to the low 
level of a mere holiday. As it becomes a holiday, it is 
more and more a work day. 2 The French Sunday is a 
holiday ; and it is widely a day of work. The German 
Sunday is a half holiday; and half the people there work 
seven days out of seven. It could not be otherwise. For 
the convenience of the pleasure seekers, the labor of other 

1 " It has been found that when the Sabbath is perverted to mere 
pleasure and recreation, more drunkenness keeps up the orgies of 
hell, more foul immoralities rot into society, more revelry and carousal, 
and fighting debase mankind, more crime riots, and more blood red- 
dens the earth on that day that God commands to be kept holy, than 
on any other day of the week." — Dr. J. O. Peck. 

" The old despotic Stuarts were tolerable adepts in the art of king- 
craft, and knew well what they were doing when they backed with 
their authority the Book of Sports. The many unthinking serfs, who, 
early in the reign of Charles the First, danced on Sabbath around the 
Maypole, were afterward the ready tools of despotism, and fought that 
England might be enslaved. The Ironsides, who, in the cause of re- 
ligious liberty, bore them down, were staunch Sabbatarians." — Hugh 
Miller. First Impress, of Eng. and its People, 67. 

2 " Operatives are perfectly right in thinking that if all worked on 
Sunday, seven days work would have to be given for six days' wages." 
— John Stuart Mill in Documents of New York Sab. Conv. 

u Sunday is more essential to the workers of society than to any other 
members. The reverent observance of it is a prerequisite to their 
moral and spiritual growth ; and this growth is necessary not only to 
industrial but to national success." — Charles Dudley Warner. 

" If the thousands of poor men and women who are compelled to 
work six days in seven for their own support, could not demand one day 
in seven as a legal right, they might well ask for it as a mercy ." — Judge 
E. L. Fancher. Address at Cooper Union, New York } Dec, 1883. 






INVASIONS OF SUNDAY LAWS. 199 

multitudes must be drawn upon — an abridgement of their 
liberty and needed rest. This is already appearing among 
us. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are 
Sunday toilers — toilers seven days in seven — violating a 
natural law — that other multitudes may use the day for 
carousal. This is the necessary fact. More shops open 
for business, more excursions by land and water, more 
open theatres and concerts ; as a result more workers are 
deprived of Sunday rest. Will toilers never cease 
from devouring fellow-toilers? Have Sunday pleasure 
seekers no respect for the rights of others to the day of 
rest ? Then they need to be put under the wholesome 
restraints of law. Their cry of peisonal liberty simply 
means the oppression of fellow workers — depriving them 
of their needed weekly rest-day. The law should defend 
the oppressed from all such conscienceless people ; should 
protect them in their weekly day of rest; should make 
pleasure seeking cease to be a multiplier of Sunday work. 
A lawless Sunday, or a Sunday with loose laws, puts help- 
less workers at the mercy of all pleasure seekers. Good 
Sunday laws are a proclamation of their freedom. 

Our Sunday laws are invaded and imperilled by greed; 
not contented with six days work and trade ; seizing and 
using the seventh for secular ends. Traffic and travel whirl 
through the day. 1 It is invaded by the silent but steady en- 

1 "The desecration of the Sabbath by railroads is an absolute loss to 
those companies." — Wm. E. Dodge. 

" If you English people do not take care, the railway system will be 
a battering ram to break down your Sabbaths " — Merle D'Aubigne. 

"Sunday is worth more than Sunday journalism. What Sunday 
journals displace is worth more than what they supply. They displace 
rest. „ They displace the mood of religious thoughtfulness and worship, 
without which.no civilization can be maintained at a high level. The 
most influential dailies of the world do not issue Sunday editions. 
Civilization would stand higher than it now does with us, if all Sunday 
journals were now stopped, as both industrial and moral nuisances." — 
Joseph Cook. 



200 SUNDAY AND THE STATE. 

croachments of capital ; great corporations running railway 
trains ; smaller capitalists steamboats and coaches ; and shop- 
keepers keeping open stores. All seem to care little for 
Sunday, and much for dividends. They rob not God alone, 
but man also. They exact from the toiler seven days in 
the week. They deprive him of a needed weekly rest-day, 
that they may drive on the pursuits of business — the 
schemes of ambition — the clamor for political power. They 
are breakers of a deep-seated natural law, and are making 
us a nation of Sunday workers. The tainted breath of 
Sunday work blows around us widely and disastrously. 
Proofs of this are not wanting; for the thing is not done 
in a corner. We see everywhere confectionery and tobacco 
stores making Sunday sales ; saloons, beer-gardens, theaters 
and concerts open ; papers hawked through the streets ; 
steamboats and railway trains running; and all bringing 
the feverishness of business into the quiet of Sunday life. 
All this invasion of the day springs from mercenary 
motives. Sunday quiet, under loose Sunday laws, always 
goes down before conscienceless greed. Many men of sub- 
stance, who have the greatest interest in keeping society 
stable, are its mightiest corrupters. These capitalists are 
appealed to, not now on the higher plane of Christianity 
— the supreme motive and force — but on the lower plane 
of humanity and patriotism. They are violating a stern 
law of nature; robbing fellow-men of a needed rest-day; 
lowering the moral tone and fiber of society; making sad 
forecasts, even a heritage of corruption, for those coming 
after them. Why will they imperil our institutions of 
civil and religious liberty? If they will not prize the day 
above money considerations, the State should compel them 
to do so. Greed should not be allowed to rob us of a 
seventh-day rest 

Sunday quiet is a conservator of all that is best in the 
Republic, giving its citizens a refreshing and toning up 



INVASIONS OF SUNDAY LAWS. 201 

weekly ; and Sunday desecration is a peril to free institutions, 
always sending the people down to lower physical, intel- 
lectual, and spiritual levels. It would be a happier time, 
if Sunday quiet breathed over all thoroughfares of trade 
and travel ; over stores and newspaper offices ; over city as 
well as country populations; over high and low, rich and 
poor, learned and illiterate. Such a Sunday is above any 
possible commercial value to the State even as to the church. 
I make this final appeal that such a Sunday may be the 
heritage of the Republic forever. . The appeal goes out to 
all law-abiding citizens — to Christians, humanitarians, and 
patriots — to stop violations of Sunday laws — to arrest this 
widespread and threatening evil — to make Sunday quiet 
the ruling American usage. The bitter cry of Sunday 
toilers is ascending against us. Institutions, when decayed 
from top to bottom, are ready for removal. Avert the de- 
cline. Restore the ancient puritv. Drive from your 
Sunday Temple all the trafficking sons of Adam. .Fight 
well this mighty battle. Don't be mere lookers on. Don't 
study the evil merely from the outside. Plunge into the 
conflict — into the seething heart of it — and be a heroic 
worker in the strife. Say to men of greed, "stop business 
and trade;" to pleasure seekers, "no more Sunday parades 
and picnics;" and to Government, u no more Sunday mails 
and delivery." Establish a Sunday quiet that will breathe 
restfulness all over the land. It will give stability and per- 
manence to our free institutions. It will be security for 
a noble future. To promote this should call out our utmost 
seeking — the utmost seeking of every Christian — the utmost 
seeking of every patriot — the utmost seeking of every 
humanitarian. 



APPENDIX 



I use an Appendix to group together a few things 
yet remaining to be said. The subject is complete without 
them. But they are added to be a help to students who 
may be purposing its wider examination. 

Seventh-Day Sabbatarians. 

The Jews stand in history as the oldest. Their high 
antiquity is known. They reject First and observe Seventh 
day, because they reject the whole Christian system. Sev- 
enth-day is still in all lands the Judaic Sabbath. Yet 
under the more tolerant civilization that is lifting from 
them the oppression of centuries, they are beginning to 
show some signs of yielding; and are pondering the 
question of conforming to existing social institutions. 
The Jewish Progress, as quoted in Truth, New York, Oct. 
5, 1884, says: " The requirements of modern society make 
the abolition of the present (Jewish) Sabbath an absolute 
necessity." Hatred and blows have not won the Jew. The 
touch of kindness is having a more persuasive influence. 1 

Traces of Seventh-day keepers appear in Lombardy in 
the twelfth century — in Germany in the fifteenth cen- 
tury — and in England in the sixteenth century. The 
German Seventh-day keepers arose by secession from the 
German Baptists, or Dunkers. Some of them migrated at 
an early day to this country, and settled in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania. They formed a separate community, but without 
monastic, vows ; and recommended but did not enforce 

1 Henry Gersoni, in The Independent, New York, Jan. 8, 1885, says : 
a Reform Judaism, among other things, is advocating changing the 
Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week." 

•203 



204 APPENDIX. 

celibacy. There have been but a few hundred of them at 
any time. 1 Some Seventh-day keepers from England, 
where the cause was having a decaying history, began to 
appear in Rhode Island about 1665. Several churches 
were soon organized in Rhode Island, New York and 
New Jersey. In 1818 they took the name of Seventh-day 
Baptists. They have now between eight and nine thousand 
church members. 2 They maintain the divine origin of the 
Sabbath ; but they deny the change that the risen Christ, 
by use and approval, made in the day. Their criticism 
here is wholly destructive. They build no Seventh-day 
Sabbath on the post-resurrection Christ, during that era 
when all things were made new. They do not even 
attempt this. The feat is an impossibility. Their sole 
mission seems to be to tear down the First-day Sabbath — 
by searching after tlaws — by suggesting difficulties — by 
raising doubts. As destructive critics they are unsurpassed. 
Their Sabbatism is not built on the risen Christ 

The Seventh-day Adventists are the youngest of all 
Seventh-day Sabbatarians. They were born of the great 
Advent craze that collapsed in 1843. They arose out of 
the wreck. Their date is usually given as 1844. They 
rapidly grew till most of the Adventists were gathered 
into the new fold. They now number about sixteen 

1 "They are not believed to exceed a few hundreds in numbers, and 
their ministers may be as many as ten or twelve." — Dr. Baird. 

2 "Late in the 15th century, * Seventh-day keepers' appeared in 
Germany. In England soon after the Reformation they organized as 
a separate denomination, bearing the name of ' Sabbatarians/ and 
eleven of their churches existed at the close of that century, of which 
three only remain. They appeared in this country in 1665, and about 
1671 organized a church at Newport, R. I. Other churches were soon 
organized in that State, and in New York and New Jersey, several of 
which still exist . . . The name ' Seventh-day Baptists/ instead 
of ' Sabbatarians/ was adopted in 1818. . . . Their membership in 
1885 was 8,591, with 85 ministers and 93 churches." — Alden's Man. 
Cycl, Art. Baptists. 






SABBATIC THEORIES. 205 

thousand members. Activity and energy characterize them 
in history. And their chief distinguishing trait is seen in 
their persistent effort to undermine the First-day Sabbath. 

Seventh-day Sabbatarians — Jews, Baptists, and Advent- 
ists — form together about seven-tenths of one per cent, of 
our population. 1 They are social incongruents ; widely 
diverse in life and faith ; but united to break down the 
Sabbath of Christianity — the Sabbath that the risen Christ, 
by use and approval, instituted. But the day has less foes 
and more friends now than in any preceding age of the 
world. 

Sabbatic Theories. 

Their number is legion. Nearly every writer on the 
Sabbath has had a theory of his own, both as to the day's 
origin, and as to its change. All these various theories, 
however, may be classed with one or another of the four 
following views : 

The Utilitarian View. This is the theory of all opponents 
of supernaturalism. They regard the original Sabbath as a 
mere human contrivance — as born perhaps of lunar changes 
— but certainly an invention of man. They regard the 
day, in the Christian age, as rising from a spontaneous 
feeling to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord. 
Seventh-day keeping is obligatory because it is salutary ; 
binding because a useful and beneficent arrangement; 
immutable in its claims because required by the convenience 
of society. This theory rests Sabbatism wholly on expe- 
diency. The view is inadequate. It does not account, in 
any fair way, for the Sabbath in history; for its origin ; 
for its preservation and perpetuity. Opponents of super- 
naturalism allow themselves, in difficult places, to be satisfied 

1 "As to Seventh-day worshipers— Jews, Seventh-day Baptists, and 
Seventh-day Adventists— they form together but seven-tenths of one 
per cent, of the population of the United States, and are still fewer in 
Great Britain."— The Sab. for Man, 86. 



206 APPENDIX. 

with very irrational and visionary theories. They seem 
credulous beyond ordinary men. 

The Ecclesiastical View. This confines itself to the 
Christian age. It does not discuss the original Sabbath, 
but only the Lord's day. It regards the church as the 
Sabbath -Maker. The Lord of the Sabbath is dethroned 
— is pushed aside — is denuded of authority- — and the 
church steps in to occupy his place. Cardinal Tolet says : 
" The observance of the Lord's day is not a law of God, 
but an ecclesiastical precept and a custom of the faithful."* 
This makes the Lord's day, not of Christ's institution and 
approval — not even of Apostolic usb and authority — but 
of church arrangement. Christ will not thus be uncrowned. 
He asserts his own dignity and right. "The Son of Man," 
he says, " is Lord also of the Sabbath day." It is his. He 
made it. He keeps it in unending history. And he will 
not allow his prerogative and glory to be appropriated and 
worn by another. 

The Apostolic View. This traces the Lord's day back to 
the Apostles, but no higher. It was born, not of Christ, 
but of James and John, of Peter and Paul. It arose in 
Apostolic customs. Whatever was ordered by the Apostles 
was divinely ordered. The Lord's day was so ordered, and 
is hence of divine and perpetual authority. This ascription 
of the day to the Apostles is without warrant in the New 
Testament. It makes too much of them. It deifies them 
— puts them in God's place. For in sacred history God 
alone is the Sabbath-Maker and the Sabbath-Preserver. 
The Lord's day was not born even of inspired men. It is 
of higher and nobler original. 

The Divine View. This traces the original Sabbath to 
God, who founded it in the constitution of man and ap- 
pointed it at the beginning. And it traces the transferrence 
of the institution, and its change of day in the Christian 

a Tolet. Insti. Sacerdot., 4 : 10. 



SABBATIC THEORIES. 207 

system, to the risen Christ. The Sabbath is thus divine. 
It was appointed by the Creator to the first man; re-enacted 
in the Decalogue; and, by Christ's authority, descended 
into Christian history as the Lord's day. This makes the 
reason for its keeping twofold ; the law in man ; the 
appointment of God ; and the twofold mandate is supreme. 
A seventh of days for rest and worship is of divine 
obligation and universal authority. In our treatment of 
the Sabbath, we have to deal with God, not with man; 
we are responsible to God, not to man. 1 

1 " On the other hand, if the institution of the Sabbath were coeval 
with creation, a command given to our first parents, and based upon 
principles of universal obligation ; if, in the Decalogue, as a summary 
of moral law, it is again repeated, incorporated with Jewish institu- 
tions, recognized by Christ, observed by Apostles and apostolic men, 
honored by the primitive church, and handed down to succeeding ages, 
rooted deeply in every dispensation, and alien to none, spreading 
widely, and bearing everywhere the prints of holiness and peace, then, 
we think that, without hesitation, we may claim for the Sabbath the 
authority which alone can sanction its observance, or give to it perma- 
nent obligation." — Br. Qaar Rev., 1855. 



THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 



IM2W occurs, as far as I have been able to ascertain, in twenty books 
of the Old Testament, and one hundred and fifty times. It is trans- 
lated into the Septuagint by anapausis, ebdomas, kataluse, etc., but is 
more usually transferred as sabbaton. Its translation into the English 
appears in such words as rest, to cease, etc. ; but it is more usually trans- 
ferred and becomes our English word Sabbath. I give here the one 
hundred and fifty cases of its Old Testament use. 

GENESIS. 

2 : 2. r\3ET1 Karaizavae He rested. 

2 : 3. ri3^ Kara-navaev He had rested. 

8 : 22. *r\3^ na-anacovcL Shall not cease. 

EXODUS. 

5 : 5. DrjS^ni KarairavGcjfiev Ye make them rest. 

12 : 15. WY5#j? acpavielre Ye shall put away. 

16 : 23. JW VnT&...ava7ravcic—odppaTa The rest of the Sabbath. 

16 : 25. A3# odpfiara A Sabbath. 

16 : 26. n|# oappara The Sabbath. 

16 : 29. n3fn cdppara The Sabbath. 

16 : 30. Vtap?! eoappartaev The people rested. 

20 : 8. n|^H D'r rjuepav.Ttiv odpfiaruv The Sabbath day. 

20 : 10. nagr ....ad^ara The Sabbath. 

20 : 11. T\2Wr\ D*V rfiv rjiiepav rrjv e fiddly The Sabbath day. 

21 : 19. ifi3$ The loss of time. 

23 : 12. mtSto avaTravoig Thou sh alt rest, 

31 : 13. "nhl® od^ara My Sabbath ye shall keep. 

31 : 14. n^n odpfiara The Sabbath. 

31 : 15. \^m niW...TV epS6n aa^ara Sabbath of rest. 

31 : 15. niW odftSo-a The Sabbath. 

31 : 16. n|^n Gdppa-a Keep my Sabbaths. 

31 : 17. i"Dt# KaranavGE He rested. 

34 : 21. Hil^n Kara-avoeic Thou shalt rest. 

34 : 21. JWi? KaTairavoic... .Thou shalt rest. 



THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 209 

35 : 2. P J 7?^' ^2^ .^Karanavacg — adfifiara A Sabbath of rest. 

35 : 3. R0T\ DV yuepa t&v oapparcov The Sabbath day. 

LEVITICUS. 

2: 13. rP3$.n dici-aware To be lacking. 

16 : 31. pn3? r\T&...od ! 3t3a~a aa^arov A Sabbath of rest, 

19 : 3. 'riTW oappara .Keep my Sabbath. 

19 : 30. "nh|W Gappara.... Keep my Sabbath. 

23 : 3. |1il3^ r\2W...<jdB t 3aTa avaizavai(; The Sabbath of rest. 

23: 3.' naW aa^ara The Sabbath. 

23 : 11. nilt^n e/izapLov t?jq Trpuryg After the Sabbath. 

23 : 15. nil^H rcbv aa t 3/3aro)v The Sabbath. 

23 : 15. n)nmym..jTTTa i/3dofj,ddag Seven Sabbaths. 

23 : 16. hlWTl epdofiadog Sabbath. 

23 : 24. pn3tS? avairavrng A Sabbath. 

23 : 32. pnr^ r\%W ..MPpara oapparov A Sabbath of rest. 

23 : 32. 0Dr\Tf \i\2®F\ ...aa^anelre ra crd/3 i 3ar«..Celebrateyour Sabbath. 

23 : 38. nrOt? %T cov odSparuv The Sabbaths. 

23 : 39. pn3E> .....avairavoLg A Sabbath. 

23 : 39. pn3i#.... avcnzavou; A Sabbath. 

24 : 8. r\ltir\ DV3 ni^H DVZ.lyjLLepa tgjv aa^aruv Every Sabbath. 

25 : 2. rt3$— 7ir\T&]...avci7Tav(jeTac — Gaj3/3ara...T\\e land keep a Sabbath. 
25 : 4. pna$ r\T\2...odj3(3aTa avaTravoig A Sabbath of rest. 

25 : 4. ngi? cdppara A Sabbath. 

25 : 5. pnatS? A3_k^ ...evtavrog avairavcEUQ A year of rest. 

25 : 6. T\W ..Mppara The Sabbath of the land. 

25 : 8. r\H3^ avcnravoEig Seven Sabbaths of years. 

25 : 8. jVI3$ efidouddeg Seven Sabbaths of years. 

26 : 2. 'tin!® Gd(3(3ara Keep my Sabbaths. 

26 : 5. DMiSn Dwell— safely. 

26 : 6. 'frMr\\ None shall make afraid. 

26 : 34. n^nn3^ odppara Land— her Sabbaths. 

26 : 34. n2&y\ aa^artel Thus shall the land rest. 

26 : 34. iTphat? od^ara And enjoy her Sabbaths. 

26 : 35. n*3I^n aa^artei As long as it lieth desolate. 



210 THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 

26 : 35. nn'3$ cap panel It shall rest. 

26 : 35. DJiJl^a D^nniB?:? It did not rest in your Sabbaths. 

26 : 43. JTRn3iSf ...... .To wfipara Her Sabbaths. 

NUMBERS. 

15 : 32. r\3$H ty y/Ltepa rtiv capfiaTcov On the Sabbath. 

28 : 9. rii^n ry fjuepa t&v Gafifiaruv On the Sabbath. 

28 : 10. 'tijWI niW ...oapparov ev rotq oafipaToic Of every Sabbath. 

DEUTERONOMY. 

5 : 12. fi2t#n rfjv rjfiepav row aa/3 j3drcov... The Sabbath day. 

5: 14. nig Gdppara The Sabbath. 

5 : 15. ri3Bfn T?jv r^iepav rcov oafifiaruv. ..The Sabbath day. 

JOSHUA. 

22 : 25. -irP|tfn] u?j cefiuvrai Cease from fearing. 

RUTH. 

4 : 14. JV3$n.., 'narelvae Left thee. 

SECOND KINGS. 

4 : 23. H|# ovde odfipaTov Nor Sabbath* 

11 : 5. rii^H to oattparov On the Sabbath. 

11 : 7. D|^n to oappaTov ....On the Sabbath. 

11 : 9. ni^n to oapfiaTov , On the Sabbath. 

11 : 9. ngt^n to oafSparov On the Sabbath. 

16 . 18. rfitsm Covert for the Sabbath. 

FIRST CHRONICLES. 
9:32. r\3$ fi3$ odpSaTov aaTa adppaTov... Every Sabbath. 

23 : 31. nin^ 1 ? ev rdig adpftaToiq In the Sabbaths. 



2 
8 

16 
23 
23 
23 



SECOND CHRONICLES. 

4. JYIfl3$7 ev Tolq oappdTotq On the Sabbaths. 

13. iVira^S ev roig aappaToiq On the Sabbaths. 

5. fl3tSf*1 naTaTzavae His work cease. 

4. n.Wn to odppaTov On the Sabbath. 

8. T\2WT\ -ov odfiPaTov In on the Sabbath. 

8. n3^n tov odppaTov Out on the Sabbath. 



THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 211 

31 : 3. ninr&b ra adnata , For the Sabbath. 

36 : 21. nrV31^— n , Jp , fri3I^...Ttt Gd(3j3ara avrrjq oa3 fiancee. .Had enjoyed her 

Sabbaths. 
^EHEMIAH. 

9 : 14. rOt? to cafifiarov Thy holy Sabbath. 

10 : 31. hst^n rov adfifiarov On the Sabbath day. 

10 : 31. n3t??3 ev Gafifiaru On the Sabbath day. 

10 : 33. nin3^n rov capparcov Of the Sabbaths. 

13 : 15. n|^3 ...ev ru oafiSaru On the Sabbath. 

13 : 15. ri3E?n rov Gaj3/3drov On the Sabbath day. 

13 : 16. i\3#3 .tcj ad[3[3aTGj ..Sold on the Sabbath. 

13 : 17. r^n rov odpparov Profane the Sabbath days. 

13 : 18. n|t?n ro wfSjSarov Profaning the Sabbath. 

13 : 19. nr#n wpb rov Gd(3 s 3arov Before the Sabbath. 

13 : 19. flg^n ottlgg) rov Ga(3/3arov After the Sabbath. 

13 : 19. ftj&T}. ........rov udfifiarov On the Sabbath. 

13: 21. niWl ev Ga(3f3arG) On the Sabbath. 

13 : 22. VSWTS rov ad^arov Sanctify the Sabbath day. 

JOB. 

32 : 1. •1^!^?! enavaaro These three men ceased. 

PEOYEEBS. 

18 : 18. NS&l iravet Contentions to cease. 

20 : 3. .H3l^ a7coG-pe6eo$ai To cease from. 

22 : 10. ri3EH Gvve^eAevGerat Shall go out. 

PSALMS. 

8 : 3. iV^nS KaraAvGai That thou mightest still. 

46: 10. jT3#D G X 6loGare Be still. 

92 : Title. nj^n DV 1 ?...tov 7rpoGd l 3 l 3arov..A Psalm— for the Sabbath day. 
119 : 119. A3t#n 7Tapa(3aivovTac Thou puttest away. 

ISAIAH. 
1 : 13. fi|$ ra cdSfiara And Sabbaths. 

14 : 4. fiStSf avaireTravrai .The oppressor ceased. 

14 : 4. ^f)3(^ ava-erravrai The golden city ceased. 

16 : 10. ^I^2WT} .TTerravrai Vintage shouting to cease. 



212 THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 

17 : 3. r\3$J1 ...narcMpvyelv Shall cease. 

24: 8. hlW— Pi2W....7r£7TavTac — Trerravrai ...Ceaseth — ceaseth, 

30 : 7. H||f To sit still. 

30: 11. *JV3$n CKpe/iere To cease. 

33 : 8. H3$ TTETzavrai The wayfaring man ceaseth. 

56 : 2. n3t# ra adppara Keepeth the Sabbath. 

56 : 4. 'AffDB? ra cap para Keep my Sabbath. 

56 : 6. hlW ra adppara Keepeth the Sabbath. 

58 : 13. R2WD anb rtiv odpparov From the Sabbath. 

58 : 13. n?V? ra adppara ..The Sabbath a delight. 

66 : 23. fo?$| r\lW.„cdpparov zKadpparov.Yvom one Sabbath to another. 

JEKEMIAH. 

7 : 34. "Tiat^ni nara?ivao I cause to cease. 

17 : 21. rt|l2?n tg)v adpparuv On the Sabbath day. 

17 : 22. n|^H tg)v adpparov On the Sabbath day. 

17 : 22. ni^'H tojv aapparuv Hallow ye the Sabbath day. 

17 : 24. ri3I^n tg)v aapparuv Hallow the Sabbath day. 

17 : 24. fl|f H r&v o&ppaTov On the Sabbath day. 

17 : 27. niW73 rc)v aappdrcov Hallow the Sabbath. 

17 : 27. H3^n .ruv aapparuv On the Sabbath day. 

48 : 35. "TDt^ni aTrolo I will cause to cease. 

LAMENTATIONS. 

1 : 7. nostra..". Mock at her Sabbaths. 

2 : 6. nafijft adpparov And Sabbaths. 

5 : 14. ^H3# Karenavoav The elders have ceased. 

5 : 15. n3^..i. mrDivoe ... Joy of our hearts is ceased. 

EZEKIEL. 

6 : 6. D^nf3Bh"D Laid waste. 

6 : 6. W|f J) s Idols— ceased. 

20 : 12. ,^ni"fl3# ra adppara fiov My Sabbaths. 

20 : 13. , riM$ ra adppara fiov My Sabbaths. 

20 : 16. W'flatf ra adppara juov My Sabbaths. 

20:20. ^pna^i ra adppara fiov My Sabbaths. 






THE HEBREW WORD FOR SABBATH. 213 

20 : 21. 'JTfrDBf rd ad^ara fiov My Sabbaths. 

20 : 24. T\)Pi2W. ....... .rd oappara fiov My Sabbaths. 

22 : 8. ^Jifi^ ra odpfiara jllov My Sabbaths. 

22 : 26. "•rWrO^P'l clko rcbv cdfifiaruv From my Sabbaths. 

23 : 38. '{YilW rd cdj3 fiara fiov My Sabbaths. 

30 : 18. fl3#2] a7ro?ietrai.., Shall cease. 

33 : 28. n%&2\ ano^eirai Shall cease. 

34 : 10. D^BBfni airocrpvipG) Cause them to cease. 

34 : 25. Ttel^ni a<f>avia Will cause to cease. 

44 : 24. r pffi|$ rd cdfifiaTa jllov My Sabbaths. 

45 : 17. ''rriftat^l ev rolg aa^arog -.The Sabbaths. 

46 : 1. h5Wi\ r&vG&ppaTuv On the Sabbath. 

46 : 3. r\l r\3t5te„ ...... ev role oaftfiaTocg In the Sabbaths. 

46 : 4. r\31^n rcbv aafSparov Sabbath day. 

46: 12. fl3$n ray (jaj3[3aTG)v... The Sabbath day. 

HOSEA. 

2:11. HM^I rd udfifiara avrrfc, Her Sabbaths. 

2 : 11. *M#tt? Cause— to cease. 

7 : 4. ntaBh Who ceaseth. 

AMOS. 

8 : 4. r^^fh) The poor— to fail. 

8 : 5. n3#rn The Sabbaths. 



The Greek Sabbaton in the New Testament. 



The Greek Sabbaton is used 70 times in the New Testa- 
ment; is translated 60 times Sabbath ; 9 times week; and 
1 time rest. It always means Seventh day. Its cases of 
use here follow. They will be helpful for reference to 
students of the Sabbath question. 

MATTHEW. 11 times. 

Jesus went on the Sabbath day rotg- oappaa 12 : 1. 

Not lawful . .on the Sabbath day hv aa^dro. 12 : 2. 

On the Sabbath day rbtg- oafifiaoLv 12 : 5. 

Priests, .profane the Sabbath to adpparov 12 : 5. 

Lord even of the Sabbath day tov oafifiarov 12 : 8. 

Is it lawful, .on the Sabbath day ?. . .roi~ aafifiaoi 12 : 10. 

Into a pit on the Sabbath day rolg- Ga/3j3aGt 12 : 11. 

To do well on the Sabbath day ? . . . . rolg- odpfiaci, 12 : 12. 

On the Sabbath . . , h Ga/3j3drG) 24 : 20. 

In the end of the Sabbath coipE 6e oa^pdrcjv 28 : 1. 

First day of the week eig- juiav aaPfidruv 28 : 1. 

MAKK. 13 times. 

On the Sabbath day rolg- o&Pfiaatv 1 : 21. 

Corn fields on the Sabbath day ev rolg- o&ppaffiv 2 : 23. 

Why do they on the Sabbath day ?. .ev rotg- GafifiaoLV . . .2 : 24. 

The Sabbath, .for man. . . / to Gdf3/3aTov 2: 27. 

Not man for the Sabbath . to GafySaTov . 2 : 27. 

Lord also of the Sabbath day tov Ga(3f3dTov . . . 2 : 28. 

Heal on the Sabbath day Tolg- Gdf3j3aGi 3 : 2. 

To do good on the Sabbath day ? tol~ GafifiaGi 3 : 4. 

Sabbath being come yevo/uevov GafifiaTov 6:2. 

Before the Sabbath ypoGa(3j3aTov '. 15 : 42. 

Sabbath was past dcoyevo/uevov tov GapflaTov. . .16 : 1. 

First day of the week tt)~ [iia~ Ga/3j3dT(ov 16 : 2. 

First day of the week.. ..«,,. irp6rrj Ga/3j3aTov 16 : 9. 

LUKE. 20 times. 

On the Sabbath day tuv GafifiaTuv 4 : 16. 

Taught, .on the Sabbath day. ev Tolg- Gd/3/3a(n 4 : 31. 

On the second Sabbath ev Gaf3f3&TG) devrepoTrp&TU . . . .6 : 1. 

214 



THE GREEK WORD FOR SABBATH. 215 

LUKE — Continued. 

Not lawful, .on the Sabbath day. . . .kv rolg- adfiflaoi 6 : 2. 

Lord also of the Sabbath day nvpio- . ,rov oafilSdtov 6 : 5. 

Another Sabbath kv erepo ad/3j3dTu 6 : 6. 

Heal on the Sabbath day kv tgj oaflfiarG) 6 : 7. 

Is it lawful on the Sabbath day?. . . .rolg- cdfifiaoiv 6 : 9. 

Teaching. . on the Sabbath kv rolg- oaj3fiaoL 13 : 10. 

Healed on the Sabbath rw cra/3/3drcj 13 : 14. 

Not on the Sabbath day ry rjjieparov aa^/3drov 13 : 14. 

JEach one of you on the Sabbath . . . .too Gafifidrcj 13 : 15. 

Be loosed, .on the Sabbath day t?j ?}juepg rov uaftfiaTov. . . .13 : 16. 

Eat bread on the Sabbath day. .... t Ga/3 t 3dTcj 14 : i. 

Heal on the Sabbath day too aafifiaTCd 14 : 3. 

On the Sabbath day kv ry fjfiepg tov Ga^Sdrov 14 : 5. 

Fast twice in the week .vtjgtevgj dig rov oafifidrov. . . 18 : 12. 

The Sabbath drew on odpfiarov 23 : 54. 

Rested the Sabbath day to. . cdflfictTov 23 : 56. 

First day of the week ulg tcjv cafifidrov 24 : 1 . 

JOHN. 13 times. 

The same day was the Sabbath adpftarov 5 ; 9. 

It is the Sabbath cdfiftarov egtiv 5 : 10. 

These things on the Sabbath kv odfifiaTCj 5 : 16. 

Broken the Sabbath * to Gdj3j3aTov 5 : 18. 

ITou on the Sabbath kv cafipdroj . - . 7 : 22. 

If a man on the Sabbath day kv adj3j3dTU) 7 : 23. 

Whole on the Sabbath day « . . . kv oafipaTu 7 : 23. 

It was the Sabbath day rjv dk adpfiarov 9 : 14. 

Keepeth not the Sabbath day .to ad/3/3arov 9 : 16. 

On the cross on the Sabbath day. . . . kv tgj aafifid-u 19 : 31. 

That Sabbath day was a high day. . .rov cappdrov 19 : 31. 

First day of the week uig tcjv aafifiaTcw 20 : 1 . 

First day of the week rr> pig tcjv cappdrtw 20 : 19. 

THE ACTS. 10 times. 

Sabbath day's journey cafiftaTov exov 66ov ........ 1 : 12. 

On the Sabbath day r\\ ?jjuepg tcjv Gaj3/3dTcov 13 ; 14. 

Bead every Sabbath day nav oapptnov 13 : 27. 

The next Sabbath to [xetci^v odfiftaTov 13 : 42. 

The next Sabbath t cj te epxo/uevcj oa^aTGj ... 13 : 44. 

Every Sabbath trav cdj33aTov 15 : 21. 

On the Sabbath day Ty ts r/jukpg tcjv oaf3(3&Ttdv. . 16 : 13. 

Three Sabbaths cdfifiaTa Tpia 17 : 2. 

Every Sabbath. ttclv odfiflaTov 18 : 4. 

First day of the week vy pig tcjv ca^dTcjv 20 : 7. 



216 THE GREEK WORD FOR SABBATH. 

FIEST CORINTHIANS. 1 time. 
First day of the week Kara julav Ga^drov 16:2. 

COLOSSIANS. 1 time. 
Nor of the Sabbath days. .......... .# ca^druv 2 : 16. 

HEBREWS. 1 time. 
There remaineth therefore a rest. . . .aa^aria^ 4 : 9. 

These are now the 70 New Testament uses of the Greek 
Sabbaton. I reproduce its 8 uses, where it is translated 
" the first day of the week." 

The first day of the week elg- jiiav (jafifidruv Matt. 28 : 1. 

The first day of the week ryg [nag- aa/3^dro)v Mark 16 : 2- 

The first day of the week irpcdry cap^arov Mark 16 : 9. 

The first day of the week fug rtiv uaj3j3dro)v Luke 24 : 1. 

The first day of the week juig rov Gafifidrov John 20 : 1. 

The first day of the week ry jucg rtiv aa^drov. . . .John 20 : 19. 

The first day of the week ry fitg tov (jappdrtov Acts 20 : 7. 

The first day of the week nard piav (japparcjv I. Cor. 16 : 2". 



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